[ - Author's Note - ]
Well; a new region, a new shield princess, some new people to meet and some new lore! This is going to lean more to the fun then most but there's going to be a bit more plot on something people have been asking about for awhile now. In addition to that we meet up with Lulu, meet some new halflings and then go to the odd one out for Ansur... But odd in a fun way.
The Poll for Best Rad Banners is still on going with the links at the bottom of the chapter, plus on Twitter at eostian and I would love it if you went and voted in it. So then, let's not waste any more time and get it on!
Let's go!
[ - Act II - Chapter XXXII: Question & Ansur - ]
For Welsh the Mighty Smith forging a nation was like forging a blade; done with care, precision and forethought. While not trained in statecraft her down-to-earth wisdom was useful in these endeavors. She formed the Principality of Ansur and named herself High Princess as she did not want to match Joanna in rank. With great iron deposits in the southeast, hills with ores across the center of the nation, bordering the Rycall Republic and the County of Brell granting access to the east side of the Great Sererian Lake Ansur has not lacked in wealth and trade.
These mines and centers of forging attracted the halflings; most notably a large sect known as the Gearborne that had believed that it was technology and not magic that would bring wealth and equality to the world. They and their supporters were cast out of their country, made refugees from their own homelands and settled at first into the south of Ansur. At first the local human populations greeted them coolly but their work ethic and industriousness impressed them and, slowly, the two peoples came to an unspoken accord. It was likely why the Principality plays host to the Sanctus Opus, the third of the great Cathedrals dedicated to Larentia.
One halfling in particular, Sallal, wound up meeting and romancing then heir to Ansur William Steiner. Rumors about William's taste for unripe flesh abounded and he did his best to abstain from it lest he cause harm, but in Sallal he found someone who matched his tastes physically and was old enough to consent to them. Thus, once he became High Prince he married her and she bore him a son; albeit a halfling one. Since then, halflings have sat on Asnur's throne, now under the banner of House Ironroot.
Mixed with humans and halflings both Ansur is proof in Eostia that two, vastly different peoples can come together and even intermingle to greater ends.
~Dominic James Pencraft, The Eostia Historia
[-]
Before we left Raven Leer City I took sometime to speak with Elrand. Now calm and not very angry I gave him a long, required apology along with a request to know what I could do to make up for it. He accepted it and asked that I help him with finding a job away from Xenera, as he never wanted to return to the county. I couldn't blame him, to be fair; I didn't either. I told him I had some pull with a few lords and if he needed sometime to recover from the better part of six centuries in slavery then he could go to Mungale; being in northern Ur it was almost literally on the other side of Eostia from Xenera and he could stay there as long as he wished to get his feet under him and he was quick to accept. To that I told him he could ride with us and go through Ansur and Thorn before heading there or he could find his own way and I'd give him enough coin to pay for passage. He opted for the latter and I gave him twenty gold which would be more then enough. That also required that I contact my father and confess I nearly drove my rapier into an innocent man in blind rage.
When he learned what happened and that it involved House Insidiae he was oddly quick to understand. And asked me to not tell my mother lest she ride out here and end House Insidiae via much more violent and bloody means. Honestly, now that I was calmer I didn't feel anger at them anymore just... pity. They were damaged by decisions made by their ancestors over elven hundred years ago with no ability to do much about it. They were all born mentally... misshapen and stood no chance at a stable and honest life. I... All I could do was pity them and wish that they could somehow recover from it; even though I knew they never would.
Elrand left for Mungale the day before we left; Maia would remain behind to help deal with the aftermath of the giant shit show in Xenera Castle so we said our goodbyes with myself giving Terra a hug that was returned (And to my surprise she gave one to both Miria and Riri as well) before we traveled north through eastern Alcanth and along Longroad before turning east into Ansur proper.
The west and northwest of Ansur were a mix of flat lands and small, rolling hills. The southeast was more hilly with a small, stunted mountain range and bore a fairly large mine within. Regardless the capital of Ansur was in the center of the region; Ironwall City and not far from it was Fortress Ansur. Ironwall was a standard city in terms of defenses; two layers of green colored walls at sixty and eight feet as well as a moat about it. Fortress Ansur was much more defensive with it's walls.
The outer, green painted wall was tall and powerful looking at seventy feel but bore a slanted slope at an angle of fifteen degrees; designed to deflect siege weaponry much easier. Towers lined the wall, spaced out with their own heavy siege weapons; namely a lot of cannons. Behind that was a ninety foot wall in the same color with it's own towers and it's own cannons. That wasn't even getting into the moat outside of the walls. We would ride to the fortress first to meet up with Lulu of House Ironroot first and foremost.
Halflings were a bit... Interesting in regards to how they handle Houses. For humans in a House every member born takes the name of said House until they married out of it. Halflings didn't do that; while they were all considered a part of the House only the House's leader and heir used the name. It wasn't universal and some halfling houses preferred the human uses of it but House Ironroot kept to it. Hence the leader here was High Prince Sarsar Ironroot and as his daughter Lulu was known as Lulu, Daughter of Sarsar as opposed to Lulu Ironroot. It's a curiosity.
Speaking of as we rode into Fortress Ansur we could see the banner of House Ironroot over the gate; Celtic tree, anvil and all. Interestingly the inside of the second wall was raised up some twenty feet over what was outside with the sixty foot drawbridge being needed to get up inside the Fortress proper and ride towards the keep. We had called ahead so we weren't unexpected so the fact there was a line of knights in a pair of lines awaiting us wasn't a surprise; mostly a mix of halflings and dwarves. Once more the banner of House Ironroot was over the doors of the keep; said keep being built with slanted walls giving it a semi-pyramid shape.
As for the knights they all bore gold colored armor; steel colored in tone of gold I imagined although golden mythril wasn't out of the question. At the end of the line a pair of banners were set up on either side of the keep's door. It was a knight's shield shaped one; a rounded top that curved hard at the upper sides as they came down before curving together; the outline a green line with dark gold on both sides. At the bottom over the point of the shield was a light gold colored diamond with blunted tips, a Celtic style pattern along it in a diamond shape leaving a void in the middle of the pattern.
Inside the background was a bit different then most shields I've seen until now; it was red and dark red in a series of diamond patterns that were small making it look like it had a texture. It was a bit interesting. At the top of the shield was a pair of axes colored light gold with a dark gold outline; they bore curved handles and had points on the back end of the blades. Under it was a ring of green with dark gold on either side of it with light gold inside of it and a Celtic tree pattern inside of it with the top and bottoms of it connecting at the sides; not unlike the one on the Ironroot Banner, this one in dark gold. It was the banner of Ansur's elite military unit; the Knights of the Golden Axes.
What was odd was that in front of the doors and between the banners was only... one person. And it wasn't Lulu. It was a blonde haired girl who looked like a preteen human girl but she was more then likely a halfling woman who stood at four foot elven. She wore gold colored armored gauntlets, pauldrons that covered the shoulders and upper arms and a breastplate that swelled out over the chest a bit. A gorget was around the neck and at her hip was a closed helm of the same metal with ventilation holes but nothing for the eyes suggesting a see-through enchantment. Her arms were covered by puffy, red sleeves and under her breastplate was a bit of black cloth that went under three, metal tassets around the hips. Under it was a shin length, red skirt with gold trim on the bottom of it; gold, armored boots visible under it.
The woman herself bore green eyes and mid back length, blonde hair with uneven bangs, plus two lengths of hair framing her face. On her back was a single bladed axe with a hooked pick on the opposite end and a spike at the top as well as a shield. The axe head wasn't overly large but the shaft was longer then average even for a fully grown human; likely to make up for her shorter height. Once our convoy came to a stop we exited as she smiled and gave us a salute. "Lord Noxdecus, I presume? Welcome to Fortress Ansur and Ironwall City. I am the Commander of the Knights of the Golden Axes; Finlay Ceannard. A pleasure to meet you, M'Lord." She said with a smile.
(-)
Name: Finlay Ceannard
Title: Commander of the Golden Axes
Class: Warrior
Level: 38
Alignment: Friendly
Reputation: 41
Status: Healthy, Relaxed, Professional
Romance Rating: 91
Corruption Rating: 13
Known Traits
[?]
[An Axe To Grind] You love your axes! +3 Damage to all Axe Weapons in your Hand
[Axe No Questions] You wield axes with greater ability then normal. +2% Str, Agi & Dex when using an axe.
[Monkey's Grip] You can wield a single, two handed weapon in one hand with no penalty. You may not wield a second two handed weapon along side it, but may wield a single handed weapon, shield or item in your off hand.
[Halfling Leap] Leap three times as high and far then you would have otherwise
Born to her father's third wife she was placed quite low on the list of succession for House Ceannard and the County of Kissam but she was more then happy to not worry about such responsibilities, preferring to train in martial combat and take a hobby in painting. During combat with Garan she was spotted by one Sarsar Ironroot and recruited into the Knights of the Golden Axes; rising up to the rank of their commander.
(-)
"A pleasure, Commander." I said as she curtsied to be softly. "I do hope we'll get along as we ride. If I may ask; where is Lulu?" After all she was expected to be outside to greet us and while I didn't take it as rude I found it as odd.
"Ahhh. Yes, of course... Do forgive her..." Finlay said as she sighed. "Princess Lulu was engrossed in one of her projects and lost track of time... She insisted, and I do quote, 'I'll be ready in a minute once I rivet this thing together' which was about... An hour ago." She let off giving another sigh. "I imagine she's still in her workshop."
"Ahhh... I've been there." I said with a nod and a hum, giving a soft chuckle.
"While the servants see your things set away to quarters I'll guide you to her." Finlay said, one gesture being made as she turned and walked inside of the Fortress (And showing off her short dog-like tail all halflings had) and beckoned us to follow; and thus we did. She would guide us down a side hall before opening a large and wide door with stairs that led downwards. We would descend about three stories before being greeted with a more halls; one leading left, another to the right and one straight ahead. She led us straight ahead and the first door on the left, a wide and large door. "Here we go." She said as she opened the door and led us inside.
The room was pretty large; you could fit two of my old high school's gymnasiums into the place side by side. Spell orbs formed into disks were set to the ceiling for light showcasing bare stone for walls, ceilings and floor. One wall was dominated with a work bench with drawers; lots and lots of drawers. The parts of the wall that didn't have a workbench before it was dominated by pegs to hold tools; hammers of different shapes and sizes, wrenches, screwdrivers, saws and hacksaws and more. Another wall also had work benches and tools in a likewise manner but not as dense; rather the wall there bore a forge and bins of what looked like ingots of various sorts of metals. You could also see smoke stones spaced out in the ceiling to clear the room of any smoke. The floor was mostly cleared out... Save for one, very large, very notable thing...
"HA HA! VICTORY!" Lulu let off as I finally saw her and everything else was ignored as I noticed... Well... She was wearing a cape, a small C-string and almost nothing else.
Okay, Eostia's going to Eostia but does Eostia have to Eostia this much!?
Once the shock of a dog-tailed preteen looking woman wearing something so indecent wore off I noticed she was moving... Or rather what she was standing on was moving; Lulu was the second thing that drew my eye and her state of (un)dress distracted me from the first thing I noticed. To describe it it was a four foot long, two foot wide brass cylinder that was laid on it's side atop a platform that was about the same length and width but about an inch thick. The front end was capped off and the platform bore two small wheels at the front and two larger ones in the back on both sides. Behind it was a square three by three by three topless and backless box of the same material missing the top in which Lulu was standing and two more wheels on either side of it. Alongside the side of it was a pair of long tubes that stuck two feet behind the whole thing and was belching out smoke. Attached via some link behind it was a four foot long, three foot high and wide square box full of coal on it's own wheels.
The larger wheels were connected together with bars and one had a piston attached to it via another cylinder. Linked behind that was a large rectangular box on small wheels; two in the back, two in the front on each side once more and it was loaded with ingots. The box was made of brass and about three feet wide, fourteen feet long and three feet tall with ingots visible over the top. I had no idea what sort of weight that was but I imagined 'tons' would be the unit of measurement; and that was without the weight of the box itself. Under the wheels and on the floor was long, wide blocks of wood atop of which was a set of steel rails that was shaped in a large figure eight on the floor.
In case what she had made hasn't hit you yet she had made a small scale steam locomotive and was riding it about the room with a shit-eating grin on her face.
"Indeed, M'Lady. You've made a very large toy." Another female halfling was in the room as well, watching Lulu with bright, purple eyes. She stood some four six and looked like she bore B-Cup breasts which was quite busty for a halfling. She bore mid-neck length blonde hair with a green hair band on her head, although only the front of it wasn't covered in hair and a bang that led down the left side of her face bore a small, green bow with a pair of small, white flowers set to it. Her torso was clad with a white, leather breastplate with gold trim and a small, green spell stone in the center over a white, long sleeved shirt with a brown corset around her midsection. Under it was a mid-thigh green skirt with white ruffles with two long lines near the edge with white, flower outlines going around the cloth.
Her hands were covered in dark brown, fingerless gloves under brown, leather bracers with golden colored trim and designs. Her legs were covered in white stockings with ruffles at the top and a green line near the top with a double diamond design on the outside touching that line. Short, brown boots were on her feet with gold colored trim at the top and bottom, a darker brown strap around the angles with round, brass disks at the outsides with two, leaf like designs sticking out. A green cape was around her shoulders
with a white inside liner and bottom trim with white, floral designs near the edge. In her hand was a staff with a brass shaft; the bottom was covered in green wrap with brass caps on either end and a white, flower like extension on the butt end. The top bore a green ribbon with four white flowers over it's center. A wider cap led to a large, flat green plate with brass trim was over that with a large, emerald colored spell stone in it with small, brass spikes going horizontally and over the top with a small gem in the top spike.
"Mehhhh, it's not a toy!" Lulu let off, turning to the other halfling with a pout... And finally seeing me. "Ughhhhhh..." She let off, blinking at me as I was still watching her contraption motor along.
"Is that a steam powered engine?" I let off to diffuse the situation.
"Ahhh, y-yeah, it is... Hold on..." Lulu let off as she leaned in and, arms hidden from view, pulled on a few levers as I walked closer, the train coming to a halt. "Ahhh, I was just finishing up when I heard-"
"That was an hour ago." The other halfling sighed out.
"AN HOUR AGO!?" She let off before give a long, sad pout. "Uwuuuuuu... Sorry I wasn't there to greet you..." She let off given that... yes, that could be seen as rude.
"I've been distracted by my work before as well. So; I'm assuming this is a small or mid scale model?" I asked, bringing the talk back to her invention as she perked up, proudly putting her hands on her hips and baring her flat chest in full at me as she puffed it out.
"Oh yeah. I'm still working on it and dealing with the issues..." She let off as she sighed. "Powering it with coal works great, but the smoke is an issue. Smoke stones at the end or inside the pipes can't catch all of it quick enough. I'm a little worried about how much soot it can toss up. It's fine in the room with the stones in the ceiling but outside..."
"Spell stones or spell orbs with fire spells would be a better option; but the former would make it expensive in full scale and the later is too brittle." I let off as I hummed. "I have a project I have a couple people working on that could overcome the latter issue but that's not a guarantee."
"Really!?" She let off in surprise as she grinned. "Well if it works let me know!"
"You're entertaining her creation as more then a toy?" Lulu's aide let off with a sigh. I gave her a look before speaking.
"That thing it's hauling is loaded to the brim with ingots. It must be pulling at more then thirty time's it weight behind it without any real issue." I pointed out, aiming a thumb to it. (Lulu would later correct me; the train itself weighed in at one and a quarter tons and there was thirty tons of metal being hauled not mentioning the weight of the car itself but point stands) "Now scale this engine up ten times on a rail leading from Sunwall City to Lancefort and stopping at each capital on the way, able to carry two hundred wagon loads of cargo, people or troops. Now imagine it's fast enough to cross the realm in under a week as opposed to two or more." I told her as the girl blinked at me. "There's potential here. Potential that requires huge amounts of investment but you can see-ooof!"
Anything I was trying to say was cut off as Lulu pounced on me, hugging me around the neck and pressing her cheek to mine as my group looked on with a mix of confusion, amusement and maybe even curiosity. "Finally! Someone understands what I'm trying to do!" She let off as I ended up holding her around the waist to avoid dropping her.
"Let's just say I'm working on my own thing here, is all." I said before finally dislodging her from me and setting her on her feet as she beaked up at me; her cape shifting a bit as her tail wagged behind her happily. I sighed and patted her head as I tried to relax before feeling a presence close to my left.
The halfling with the staff was hovering by me so we were eye to eye with three inches separating us to my surprise as she leaned in to look close. I was about to ask why exactly she was so close until I noticed something about her eyes.
The pattern of her iris was scaled. "Well, well, well..." She let off with a wide smile. "It's been awhile since I've met another dragonborne." She let off just as realization set in for me. And when she said that the room went so quiet that you could hear a pin drop. And the response from everyone else in the room hit me all at the same time.
"WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT!?"
I felt a bit of a headache hit me from that. Doubly so as the loudest was Lulu who was standing right there next to me! As I took a moment to rub my temples I looked over to the halfling hovering by me. "Do you usually blurt out things that don't need to be blurted?"
"Ah... Forgive me... I tend to forget myself when I met another like myself." She said, blushing in embarrassment as she rubbed the back of her head. "Lord Noxdecus, yes? I am Edda Greenfield. I apologize for that."
(-)
Name: Edda Greenfield
Title: Speaker of Nature
Class: Sage
Level: 33
Alignment: Friendly
Reputation: 34
Status: Healthy, Embarrassed, Curious
Romance Rating: 99
Corruption Rating: 11
Known Traits
[Borne of Dragon's Blood] You are a Dragonborne, (Character Name)! Gain the Dragon's Breath Ability. Increase lifespan by up to twelve times. +2 to All Stats
[Elementalist Of Light] You prefer casting the elements of nature but maintain a connection with the light. +4% Mag when casting Water, Fire, Wind, Earth, Ice, Lightning or Holy type spells. -4% Mag when casting Arcane or Darkness type spells.
[Mana Draw] Draw mana from the world around you to refill your stores
A dragonborne who came from a weaver mother and carpenter father she followed her mother into her craft until she was sixteen and found a talent for spell casting. It was her teacher that discovered the blood in her veins and started her along her path of becoming a powerful sage; mostly by warning her of what that gift would mean for her.
(-)
"Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait!" Miria let off, running to my right hand side looking to me in shock. "You're dragonborne!? Since when? How can you tell!? Why didn't you tell anyone!? Why!?" I winced at that as I lifted my hands up to calm her as I sighed.
"You can tell by his eyes." Ebba said with a smile before I could speak. "Dragonborne have very bright, clear eyes and if you look closely enough at the iris of his eye there's a scaled pattern to it." She said as Miria leaned in closer as I resisted the urge to lean back as her face lit up, mouth going wide.
"I... I can see it..." My sister let off as I sighed.
"As for why I didn't bring it up... well..." I let off as I squirmed for a moment. "...I didn't think it was a big deal..."
Thawp
"It's a big fucking deal! Okay!?" She let off as I winced and rubbed the top of my head where she rapped me with her knuckles. That hurt; but more the upset shouting then the knock to my noggin. "Come on..."
"Well it's for the best..." Ebba said as she landed, sighing. "I mean we dragoneborne do have people trying to kill us because we're dragonborne." She said as everyone blinked at her.
"I... beg your pardon?" Makoto let off as I sighed. Edda blinked as what she just blurted out registered with herself.
"This should be talked about over tea..." I let off.
[-]
We would move over to a sitting room on the west side of the keep. There was a large window with a balcony but we were seated inside the room proper; a glance to the skies suggested rain was on it's way in so no sense being outside for it. Additionally it was easier to secure a closed room to ensure no one overheard things. There was a collection of tables in the room on green carpets that we sat at. Oak stained shelves in a dark tone was lining a wall as Finlay made up a tea; Burshan Green it was called. It was a green tea (As the name implies) with a hint of a minty taste to it. Once we were settled in Edda began to speak.
"The full reasons are unknown to me but I know a few things." She began looking to me. "I am sure you know of Iris Sofia; the late Shield Princess of Ur?" She asked as I nodded. "Are you aware that after death that her eyes were removed?" She said as I nodded once more.
"I don't get that... Why remove the eyes?" Riri asked as Edda sighed.
"As I said before; you can identify dragonborne by their eyes... But there's more to it then just that." Ebba said, holding up a finger before looking to me. "I'm assuming you've used Dragon's Breath before, yes?" She asked as I nodded once. "Have you felt any... Mana flow through your eyes or the like?" She asked as I blinked at her.
"Ah, no... why?" I replied as she sighed.
"Then you're not using it right." She said as I let off a 'huh' as she softly smiled. "Then again if you never met with another dragonbrone that's been trained correctly I'm not surprised; you wouldn't know. The real power of the dragonborne from the Dragon's Breath to our expanded lifespans are held within the eyes which holds a unique type of mana; Dragon's Mana we call it. By tapping that power you can increase both your lifespan and your Dragon's Breath power by several degrees to start with. But it's also the eyes that are harvested to be used in a likewise manner; they're likely being used for their power; how or in what I can't say. As for who that would be the Una Vertias Chruch."
"I've heard a lot of bad rumors about the Church but... why would they go around killing dragonbrone?" Cress asked as he looked to her in confusion.
"I'm not sure." Edda let off as she sighed. "It's a shift from the historical position of the Larentian Church when it was united; it's something that happened after the split and I know the Anima Lux doesn't share the same views on dragonborne and... ... Why are you all looking to him like that?" Sans Riri the halflings in the room looked confused as everyone looked to me as I sighed.
"They like it when I talk history..." I said with a sigh as she giggled.
"Well... Care to do the honors?" She asked as I leaned back in my seat. After a moment to think I began to speak.
"To start with the Larentian Church when it began was founded before the Imperium was." I began as I looked up a bit. "While it started off somewhat unified a number of splinter groups came up not long after and there was a bit of strife between various factions to the point there was fighting and bloodshed between them; short of what one could call a small scale Age of Conflict. This is where one of the first Saints appeared; Jeremy the Torchbearer. He spent most of his life going from church to church and faction to faction to attempt to bridge gaps, make peace and smooth over conflicts. He was a dragonborne himself and, because of that, had a lot of life to do this in. When Dynatós Patéras founded the Imperium Jeremy formerly founded the Larentian Church as it's first archbishop not long after and it's often thought his efforts did as much to expand the Imperium as Dynatós did. Of course as Larentia worship became banned in the Kaiser era and the Nine were promoted one of the first things that happened was that Jeremy was murdered and then had his body strung up as a statement by 'unknown assailants'."
I took a moment to sip my tea before speaking once more. "Needless to say most of the rest of the clergy went underground and when the Age of Conflict sprung up they bit back hard. The Church reestablished itself and pushed back in an effort to dislodge the Imperium's oppression and their most notable general was one Arron Von Caulder; another dragonbonre and the second archbishop."
"Wait, wait, wait..." Miria let off as she blinked at me. "The first two archbishops were both dragonborne?"
"Oddly enough... My guess; right time and right place." I said shrugging. "Well... depending on how you look at it; Caulder would form the Larentian Ascendancy as a theocracy and would rule until Verlangen decided he wanted to play emperor and demanded he surrender. He told him no and Verlangen didn't like that answer and beheaded him in battle. Noam Albertson assumed the title as he took Caulder's twelve, greatest disciples into hiding in Camafran. When Joanna's rebellion picked up their heirs returned and when the Brazen Empire fell reestablished the Church as part of Eostia; now the Church of Larentia's Light under the leadership of Harson Albertson. The twelve heirs that came with him would become the first Cardinals. By all accounts they were proud of their dragonborne origins at the time..."
"And then Grandia came out of a meeting with Albertson and Mars that saw both of them dead, sparked the split of the Churches and began the distancing of the Una Vertias from the dragonbrone." I said with a sigh. "If I had to guess that meeting is the reason for it. Of course aside from him no one survived that meeting and if he wrote anything down about it I've never heard about it."
"Indeed; you'll hear often of how 'you should not covet the powers of the dragonborne' from them." Edda said with a nod. "They've never been able to fully turn on those like us publicly; at least not fully. Too many well known dragonborne heroes in our history and one always pops up every century or so. Obviously there's no evidence that can be used to point at them but you can see some proof. Nothing the Council of Lords will accept; but it's there. If anything keeping your status secret would be for the best."
"Err, wait a moment..." Makoto let off as she blinked as she looked to me. "Did not the High Inquisitor lean in close to your face that time we were eating lunch?"
A very uncomfortable silence fell over the room as I mulled over that, taking a moment as I took a sip of my tea as I sighed gently. "Well shit." I let off.
"I don't think they'll do much yet." Edda said as she huffed. "Between traveling with Lulu and such a large escort they'll be too shy to take a shot at you. Not until they're sure they can do the deed good and proper. That said... We should see about giving you some training to better use the Dragon's Breath... Just in case..."
[-]
I got to meet High Prince Sarsar and his epic mustache during lunch and he was rather friendly if a bit stern. Additionally I got to meet one of Lulu's brothers... who was human. As it turned out the High Prince had three wives and one was human. Halfling/human offspring were either fully human or fully halfling and it was a bit of a toss up of what you'd get. Lunch was fairly good, all in all, with dwarven salads all around.
Once we finished eating Edda led me back down to another workshop and set up a series of steel, double headed axes into a set of short, stone stands that made then stand straight up. There were a dozen, all in all, and spaced out as Edda pointed me to one. "Okay then big boy; let's see what you can do before I show off how it really works."
Of course everyone came along to see this for the first time as I took a bit of a breath. Once I was ready I took a breath in, drew mana, aimed and unleashed all I had to the axe; breathing out neon red flames at the weapon, drowning it in a torrent of blaze and heat. Miria let off a loud 'Whoooooooaaaaaaa!' as she watched what I could do for the first time and you could hear the rest of the room let off their own surprised sounds. Soon the attack ended and I got to see the end result.
The edges of the axe were melted clean off. The shaft warped and sagged under the weight of the rest of the axe head; itself warmed and glowing hot for a few moments before cooling enough to harden; the end result looking like an artists rendition of a depressed and spineless cartoon axe in a way.
"Huh... Well for someone untrained that's not half bad..." Edda said as she looked to the sagged weapon before she moved to step up towards the next axe in line. But it looks more... Like this..." She let off and... her eyes glowed coming alight with a white radiance before she unleashed her own attack and...
The flame was white. Not 'white hot' white but rather 'arcane' white. More over the flames were denser in form and seemed to have a weight to it. When her attack ended... there was no more axe... There was just a bubbling puddle of liquid metal dripping down the stand towards the floor; slowly solidifying over time. "Holy..." I let off as she giggled and took a breath.
"Once you have it just right you can put in a lot more power. I admit I put in a little more mana then you did and more then I'd normally use but I wanted to make a point of what you can do." Edda said with a grin. "And also..." She let off, stopping before drawing her breath in once more... But this time her eyes didn't glow white but cyan before she unleashed her second attack at the metal puddle and...
Rather then breathing flame she breathed a cyan colored frost at the puddle as she covered it in a thick layer of ice with a heavy dusting of frost on it. Once it ended I was left dumbfounded. "You can add elements to it!?" I let off. I... I hadn't even considered that was a possibility! She chuckled a bit, patting her chest with a hand.
"Oh yeah. You can add any element; ice, lightning, earth, water... Fire will make it leave patches of flame for awhile; great for area denial in a fight." She let off with a grin. "Earth is useful; it's like breathing a wall at them. Blocks most attacks although it's not the most damaging."
"What about Hybrid Elements?" I asked her as she blinked at me as she gave off a 'huh'.
"I... don't know. I never tried it myself." She said as she cupped her chin. "Hmm... Something to look into later." She looked up to me, hand moving to her hip before tapping her staff to the floor twice. "Now then. Let's work on you. Face the next one." She let off as I moved to take aim to the next axe. "Now... Let's start by closing your eyes and focusing. I'm sure you know how to draw mana from your stores normally but this time we're going to do it from your eyes. Don't draw a lot; overdoing it can blind yourself for a few moments and you don't need much. Just a hint." I nodded and took a moment to focus. I gingerly took a 'tug' on the mana there and...
Sucked in a breath... It was like pulling on lightning but rather then feeling painful it was... tingly and creating a feeling not unlike excitement. "That's a good sign.. It's hard to mix that mana with your normal mana. If you can use your eye's mana for normal spells I can't say; I haven't managed it. Now; let's not go full out and let's start small. Give out the softest and gentlest Breath you can."
Given I was using a literally face melting (And metal melting) ability starting small was most likely a smart idea. So I started with the smallest amount of power I could and...
I gave off a puff of off-white smoke. I groaned in annoyance as Edda giggled as I restarted; I had clearly put too little mana into it before tripling what I had used before. This had a much better effect; it was a puff once more but a puff of white flames that was the size of a fist. Edda nodded as I doubled the mana used and puffed out a much larger flame. I doubled it again and the result was a volleyball sized burst.
"Did his eyes glow just now?" Miria let off as I tried to ignore what she said. I was feeling a bit more confident using the Dragon's Mana, as Edda called it, and so drew on more of it. I still decided to draw well short of what I'd normally use to avoid the overdraw Edda warned me about and took proper aim at the next axe.
Riri would later tell me that me eyes glowed bright and white for a long moment before I unleashed the next Dragon's Breath; smaller then what I had done before but I noticed that it mimicked the density from Edda's flame as it struck the axe head on, spilling over it for a long, long moment. Once the attack ended and... well...
The blades were melted off, the top of the head was missing and a stump was all that was left of it with the shaft sinking down until it looked like a a dropped rope. "Whoa..." I let off, blinking. Sure, that was a ways away from 'melted pile of slag' but it was a hell of a step up from what I had done before.
"Not bad, not bad..." Edda said with a nod, smiling. "Now then... Let's try it again with more mana. You'll get a hang of it after a hundred times today!"
"A... hundred?" I let off blinking at her. "Ahhh, mana limits aside... do we even have that many axes here?"
"Pfffffft, Lulu makes a dozen in a day." She let off as I blinked. "Even when she's supposed to do something else."
"It's therapeutic." Lulu let off with a chuckle, rubbing the back of her head with a hand, not caring one flat breast was on display.
This was gonna be painful...
[-]
I was right... It was painful...
Mana exhaustion is what happens when you use up too much of your mana stores. There was no risk of dying from it but it the results was a feeling of physical exhaustion that would build up towards physical soreness and then in severe cases complete immobilization.
I had ended up in that last one. Worse; exhaustion of the Dragon's Mana made my vision blurry on top of all of that.
That said it did go well; in a sense anyway. For one thing my Dragon's Breath got a new trait when I looked at it in the menus; Trained Breath which gave me the ability to alter it's type as well as upping the damage. The other was the training got it to level three which gave me an upgrade option between Deep Lungs, which increased the cool down speed, and Deep Well which reduced the mana cost.
I imagine you won't be surprised that I took the second option after all of that...
Finlay and Lulu helped me to my quarters to rest up and by 'help' I mean Lulu had her hands under my shoulders, Finlay held onto my waist and they carried me over their heads in what had to look comedic from the outside looking in. And then they just gave me a light toss onto the bed as I groaned there. On the plus side Edda decided I had the attack down pat now and I could practice on my own time from now on.
Yay...
Riri would remain with me to attend to me given I couldn't move at all. For the most part that translated as just curling up and laying next to me with her head on my shoulder; not that I minded. A mana potion would have sped up the recovery, to be sure, but just rest would do the job and do it better in the long run. Indeed while 'up and bouncing' was not the term to use I was up and walking in time for dinner and when I awoke the next morning I'd say I my mana was back to around ninety percent full.
After breakfast it was the same old story as before; off to the local Adventurer's Guild in the city proper. The story was nothing unusual; say hi, go to the roof, slap a booster into place and thank our host.
[(⸜∕ ) Place Booster in The Principality of Ansur]
That said Ironwall was a bit different from other cities I've visited so far; first was the populous. In the cities I was in so far human were the dominant sight by far to the point of every eight to nine people out of ten being human. Here it seemed closer to two to three humans for every ten. Instead the dominant sight was halflings by far with a notable dwarven minority. The other was the overall appearance of the city; it looked less like a standard medieval fantasy-land and more like Victorian England with a focus on arches and Gothic architecture but with the walls being painted a variety of colors; mostly greens, yellows and blues.
As usual we decided to shop about a bit with Lulu and Finlay joining me along with three guards from the Golden Axes as escort. Riri and Makoto joined me as well as we started in a weapons shop. Lulu went off and started talking about weapons and how best to use them. I already knew it but using axes was more complicated then 'slam weapon into the target very, very hard'.
What surprised me was that she bragged about the axe she made for herself; not that she had made it herself but rather what it was made of; titanium. In this world titanium had notable anti-magic properties as it resisted it's use and would block most magical attacks effectively. Even a magical lightning strike to it would fizzle out upon hitting such a weapon. That said she discussed a few things I didn't know like how brittle the metal was at room temperature unless it was alloyed with another metal; with hers being seventeen parts titanium and three mythril. I wasn't aware the two mixed but the results were supposedly amazing; the mythril in the mix made the titanium almost repel magic in her own words. Given she wasn't a mage of any sort nor relied on magic that worked well... And it somehow didn't interfere with her Armor Weave cape, hat, stockings and little groin covering. Yes; those were made of Armor Weave. Yes, they offered her protection despite how little there was. No her axe didn't disrupt that. I had no idea why.
(I of course looked into that later on; as it turns out that her Armor Weave was made special; the powdered and liquid mana used for her outfit had a small amount of powdered titanium/mythril alloy added into it; this gave it the effect of bypassing the counter-magic properties of her weapon. That's not to say this was a perfect solution; making a Mana Armor in a likewise manner would cost five times the normal amount due to the difficulty of making it. The issue was you needed the right amount added in as too much would make the Armor Weave fail and too little would mean the magic would be suppressed by the weapon. It was a careful balance and using Observe on her outfit mentioned it was five percent less effective then normal save a ten percent higher magical resistance. No one knows how or why this works; my guess is the small amount of powdered titanium alloy made the mana align or resonate in just the right way to be mostly unaffected by the weapon, it still wouldn't allow a mage to cast regardless.)
As she was speaking of weapons made of rare materials I took the moment to mention I had, back in Sual within Geofu, bought a three pound ingot of orichalcum. Her reaction was about the same as a pet dog seeing it's favorite treat in it's owner hand; complete with wagging tail. I told her I was hoping she could help me craft a weapon with it (Her reaction to that could be summed up as 'wagging intensifies') and finally I mentioned what I wanted for a weapon; a High Elven Saber.
Rapiers and sabers, based on my understanding, could be tricky to make; these were weapons that were meant to be used with one hand and needed just the right balance of it's weight to work well. For rapiers if you had too much weight in the blade it became too unwieldy as accuracy and control were musts to use it. For a saber it might have been even trickier; you needed to balance it in the right way to allow it the accuracy and control to plant a thrust where you wanted it to go while also having enough weight in the blade to be able to slash or even hack at something while also not being too heavy overall to become tiring for the user to wield. Of course that was from the point of view of the end user; for all I know a half decent blacksmith could churn out a saber in their sleep. I kinda doubted it though.
I then mentioned I had a high quality, golf ball sized spell stone to add to it (Wagging continues) and was planning to enchant it as a focus while adding other enchantments to make it a far more effective weapon. She was more then willing to take the commission; even dismissing an offer to compensate her as she saw it as a challenge worth her talents and assured me she'd hop to work once our journey in Ansur was done. The one thing she did ask was that if whatever I was having made back in Mungale panned out I'd help with her train project; which I agreed. I told her outright while it might take decades to build the infrastructure I was sure her train was going to revolutionize transport; making it cheap after the initial cost and efficient.
Honestly that was most of what I recalled of my old world and how railroads connected people; in short oceans, lakes and rivers were the single best way to move goods and people from place to place. If you didn't have an abundance of rivers then trains were the next best thing; far, far, far more efficient then trucks and it should go without saying even more efficient then wagons and carriages. My voxlux could help connect people at vast distances but Lulu's trains could help people reach them. The sort of economic growth that could come from it was immense.
Even after we left the weapon shop and visited others we kept talking and comparing ideas as it occurred to me (And likely her as well) how well we could collaborate; the limiting factor of much of what the halflings could build was power. The ability to harness electricity with non-magical means had yet to be discovered limiting them to burning fuels like coal which was rather dirty making many of the nobility wary about going all in on it worried about poisoning the air. To most people from my world this would be confusing; the chance for a new source of power was sitting there, unused? No matter what the lower classes had to pay for it? Well you need to consider one major thing here...
Politics...
Much of what halfling technology could do magic could do. Things like generate light for rooms, recording devices and even self propelled vehicles could be made cheaper or easier with magic thanks to spell stones and spell orbs and they didn't belch out black smoke going everywhere. And yes, horseless carriages existed... kinda... They were rare as you needed a good enough spell stone to power them making them an expensive oddity and while Eostian roads were good no one trusted the jostling to not crack spell orbs.
Again though, if the work in Mungale panned out...
And that was the biggest deal here. It could, in theory at least, provide the kind of power needed to propel the sort of technology Lulu could make without spilling coal smoke everywhere. We could help kick-start an industrial revolution like in my own world but with far less pollution. This could be just what the lower classes needed to better their lives as well.
Our chat only petered out once we reached a store that was made with mages in mind. I decided to browse for a while to see what other useful things I could find. My results were fairly worth it over all. 'The Creation and Enchantment of Spell Glass: A Recording of the History, Evolution and Theses on Spell Orbs and Their Creation by Jared Goleft' which, despite the overly long subtitle, would be useful to my ends. That wasn't all because I nabbed a few extra scrolls as well with spells on them.
We'd stop in at a pub for lunch and... Lulu ordered a very large amount of ale for herself while Finlay ordered a more reasonable amount. I opted for a juice given the time of day. By all accounts Lulu was at least a semi-regular here given the response people had; including the staff. That said the place was clearly a place that served halflings more then anyone else; the table was shorter then normal as were the chairs. I felt like I was sitting at a desk for a fifth grader which led me to sticking my legs out more in an effort to be more comfortable. That was my only complaint; the music was good and food a bit different but nice. I ended up with what was called a 'Conrus Sandwhich' which was in reality a hamburger... although with some differences.
For starters you had the rounded bun cut in half to have the rest of the meal put into it with both sides given a coating of something not unlike a sweet barbeque sauce. Cheese was on the bottom then the 'patty', a light layer of mashed sweet potato on top of it, spinach instead of lettuce, tomato and single slice of bacon that was quartered and set like a small square. The patty was the main difference however. It was made, apparently, in a large, square loaf made of ground beef spiced with black pepper, nutmeg, oregano and cilantro mixed in with the middle of the loaf being from crumbs of a type of bread called rusk (It used to be normal wheat bread crumbs but the Celtic peoples introduced rusk and it proved popular with halflings). This loaf then had a thick piece cut off and grilled like a normal patty. It had a very interesting taste and texture and was served with sweet potato chips. By 'chips' I mean more the British definition of French Fries save that they were cut in wide slices as opposed to sticks. I rather enjoyed it, all in all... even if mashed sweet potato was never a burger ingredient I had ever considered before.
After lunch was done Lulu bought herself a barrel of whiskey and brought it to the carriage. By which I mean the barrel was wider by half and four inches taller then the norm. And she held it with one hand and carried it on her shoulder. Yeah; Lulu was a little powerhouse. We'd pass by a park on the way to the next bout of shopping and I'd see a large, bronze statue there of a woman on a pedestal with a cascading ring fountain around it. The woman was a tall and muscular one and if it was life sized she stood some six foot two. Her hair was tied back in a long, waist length cord. She wore a set of bottoms that were like gym bloomers and a tube top over DD-Cup Breasts. Armored gauntlets, boots and pauldrons were on her body as well as a piece over each side of the hips. In her right hand she held a heavy looking, double headed warhammer that was resting on her shoulder while in her left she held a blacksmith's hammer as the arm hung by her side. Under the statue was a large, brass plaque.
To destroy is easy and simple. In the
moment it makes one feel powerful and
mighty. In truth the secret of true power
is to build. To make what lasts and is used
by you, yours and others and leave a legacy
laid in stone, metal, wood or art is a power
destructive powers cannot match. Any feral
beast can ruin. Creation requires talent.
Welsh the Mighty Smith
Founder of Ansur
After passing through the park we would end up visiting another weapon's shop, still chatting a bit when I saw something of interest; matching bows. Now those aren't what interested me but rather that they had spots to mount spell stones too. That wasn't unusual; some weapons were built to have stones of varying sizes attached to them as a means of increasing their price without paying for a spell stone to attach to it. Of course how large a stone you could mount depended on the size. The mounts here were marble sized and placed in an interesting manner; just over the grip. I had ideas for that so I bought both. Lulu was a bit confused but once I explain my plan she agreed with what I had in mind.
Shopping done we would return home as I set things away and then had dinner. I spent the start of the evening with reading my new spell scrolls and expanding my list of magic.
(-)
Bolster Perception [Lvl I] (0/1000)
Magic Type: Arcane
Cool Down: High
Mana Cost: Low
This spell increases the perception of the user, allowing them to see high speed objects and react to them with greater ease. Additionally increase your Dex, Agi and Acc by 15%. Lasts for fifteen seconds.
Cluster Flare [Lvl I] (0/1000)
Magic Type: Fire
Cool Down: Low
Mana Cost: Very High
You generate and direct several fireballs towards a single or multiple targets. Each fireball generates a powerful explosion.
Breeze Weapon [Lvl I] (0/1000)
Magic Type: Wind
Cool Down: Low
Mana Cost: Moderate
Imbue a weapon with the Wind Element; the weapon gains Wind Elemental Damage equal to half the weapon's damage (Rounded Up)
(This Combat Art is also considered a Magic Spell)
Soaked Weapon [Lvl I] (0/1000)
Magic Type: Water
Cool Down: Low
Mana Cost: Moderate
Imbue a weapon with the Water Element; the weapon gains Water Elemental Damage equal to half the weapon's damage (Rounded Up)
(This Combat Art is also considered a Magic Spell)
Earthen Weapon [Lvl I] (0/1000)
Magic Type: Earth
Cool Down: Low
Mana Cost: Moderate
Imbue a weapon with the Earth Element; the weapon gains Earth Elemental Damage equal to half the weapon's damage (Rounded Up)
(This Combat Art is also considered a Magic Spell)
Shaded Weapon [Lvl I] (0/1000)
Magic Type: Darkness
Cool Down: Low
Mana Cost: Moderate
Imbue a weapon with the Darkness Element; the weapon gains Darkness Elemental Damage equal to half the weapon's damage (Rounded Up)
(This Combat Art is also considered a Magic Spell)
Regenerate Wounds [Lvl I] (0/1000)
Magic Type: Water
Cool Down: Moderate
Mana Cost: Moderate
A healing spell that slowly heals the target overtime. Unlike other spells it lasts for hours until enough damage is healed to use up the deployed mana.
Earthen Wall [Lvl I] (0/1000)
Magic Type: Earth
Cool Down: Moderate
Mana Cost: Moderate
Dirt, stone and other earthen material rises up and forms a wall bridged with mana to act as a barrier to block attacks. Highly resistant to physical attacks and will vanish when the mana is expended.
Frozen Wall [Lvl I] (0/1000)
Magic Type: Ice
Cool Down: Moderate
Mana Cost: Moderate
A wall of ice is formed by the user and is infused with mana to act as a barrier to block attacks. Highly resistant to magical attacks and will vanish when the mana is expended.
(-)
I think it was a good set of additions to my spell list. Cluster Flare would be highly valuable as a mass, area of effect attack, Bolster Perception had uses for both offensive and defensive utility while the wall spells and Regenerate Wounds all had solid defensive potential. That last one I felt was something I could really use; my class naturally leaned towards an offensive skill set but I could see the use in having additional set of defensive abilities. Furthermore by adding Breeze, Soaked, Earthen and Shaded Weapons to my spell list that was all of the Elemental Weapon Spells in my repertoire.
Once that was done and the scrolls were set away I started to read my new book. Part of my plans involved spell orbs and having a larger knowledge of them was always going to be useful. As I worked through it my door was knocked on as I set a bookmark into place. "Come in." I called out to see the door open (As another side note; door handles in the city and fortress were about four inches lower on the door then usual) as Edda stepped in, shutting it. "Can I help you?"
"Indeed. There's someone you should meet." She said as she walked closer to me with a nod. "Yerical is one of your destinations, yes?" She said as I nodded. "He's in Mount Korodon and he lives mostly alone. As I said you should meet him, but the place is difficult to reach; not to even get into where it is." She said as I hummed and thought it over.
The Barony of Yerical was in the northeast of Ansur and was right on the Garan border. On paper there was nothing unusual here; starting north and going south in each of the major kingdoms was what we did normally. Mount Korodon, however, was in the northeast of Yerical and was within spitting distance of the borders of Garan. The rough and rocky region meant that you weren't marching an army through there; at least not unless you were willing to take your time or ready to lose a part of it to the terrain and elements alone. That didn't mean we didn't risk encountering a small scouting group along the way. More over I didn't know how the roads were paved there; we could end up facing down the same sort of recon in force we faced in Arafe. "You think it's that important?"
"I do." Edda said with a nod. "I'd rather not get into the details here and now but he's someone those such as we should meet if possible. As we're going that way as it I think the detour is warranted."
"Alright then..." I said with a nod. "I'll let Lulu and the rest of my group know as we mount up. Anything else to note?" I asked as she shook her head.
"No; that is all. Get your well earned rest and be ready for what is to come." She said before bowing and turning to leave.
I wonder who she wanted me to meet..? Another dragonborne?
[-]
Once the center and heart of the Grenada Kingdom in the ages between the Imperium's fall and the Brazen's rise what is now Steel Lock had found itself with large amounts of saltpeter and sulfur. Indeed the kingdom that once lived there was so named as they created the grenade as a weapon and employed them heavily; first heavy ones deployed with catapults then more moderate sized ones that could be launched by ballista with high accuracy. These weapons let then House Novabar carve a sizable kingdom out for themselves and push back the Imperium forces before other factions pressed between the two.
In the peace following the First Age of Conflict's end they began to experiment with a new series of weapons; first with large cannons and then smaller, easier to tow or carry ones. The recreation of firearms had even begun before Gottes Verlangen attacked. Having conquered nations like the Imperium Remnant, Larentian Ascendancy, the Kingdoms of Arcodia, Merria and Zeldon as well as the Aster Republic the Brazen Emperor would turn his gaze to Grenada and, in one of the few times this could be said of his conquest, found himself stopped in his tracks.
The destructive power that rained down upon his armies was nothing like what Verlangen had suffered before and he would find himself conquering the nations around Grenada first before slowly closing in on all sides; cutting off trade and preventing the defenders from fully concentrating their forces against the onslaught. House Novabar would fall in the end when one of their commanders, Pearson Lee, betrayed them to the Brazen Emperor in exchange for a lordship of his own. Once Grenada fell he renamed the region Blackmoor and renamed his House as House Noxrex.
Interestingly when Jonna of the White Cloth's campaign was gathering in Arndale history would repeat as House Noxrex was overthrown from within by House Tyrian who would become an ally to the Seven Shields Alliance and join Eostia as a slave state and renaming the realm Steel Lock. For most of it's history the region was a county under the leadership of House Tyrian until the coming of the Great Pox. Arsing into command following them was House Marshall who was not initially a noble house but a merchant one who led in absence of any other leadership and was given the county in the aftermath and would end slavery not long after. A hundred years later Kathrine Marshall would then marry Henry Mignite and took his name but kept the banner of House Marshall.
Since then Houses Marshall and Mignite had fully unified under the Mignite name and leads the now Duchy with their motto; Tomorrow is promised to no one so go and make it.
~Dominic James Pencraft, The Eostia Historia
[-]
Our first stop on the way to Yerical was the Duchy of Steel Lock and a series of grass lands and prairies. Steel Lock was the odd one out in Ansur but in a different way then others called 'odd ones out'. It wasn't like Classa or Forestside in that it had unusual sexual tones nor like Hakla, Ironheart or Xenera in the oddities of their local lords (Or previous ones in Xenera's case, thank god) but more in a manner akin to Pulca. Steel Lock had an independent streak when compared to other states and encouraged militias to be formed in every city, town and village in it's realm. Moreover while it was led by a Duchess a sizable amount of power was placed into the hands of the governor who did much of the day to day decision making of the Duchy... and it was an elected position. While the highest position in Steel Lock wasn't an elected one the second highest was. What I knew of the place suggested that it was the Eostian version of Texas... And that was before noting that it was the leader in building and testing firearms within Eostia.
Hell, the bulk of cannons made in Eostia came from here. While the northern end of Ansur was more human centric then the halfling centric south Steel Lock got along with them like old friends. That 'Eostian Texas' feeling grew more and more as were rode through as we looked over the buildings in the towns within more central regions; they looked less like the usual medieval fantasy that most of Eostia had and looked more like a mishmash of the wild west and colonial America with hints of steampunk here and there. It was a bit unusual to say the least.
Finally we arrived in the Duchy's capital; Walker City. The walls were Imperium Era but modified to have larger towers to host cannons on them. In addition a detached wall was set behind the city gate which would slow any attackers who got through the gate. As usual the local lord's banner was over the city gate. It was a mostly standard knight's shield with cut off top corners, pulled in sides just above the middle and the bottom curving in the harder at the end to a point. The outline was a wide gray with a thick, brown line outside of it and a thinner one on the inside. The background was blue on the left and green on the right with nothing between the two colors. The bottom on both sides had a single, white wing with a brown outline, the middle bore the image of a keep that was gray with a brown outline, gate and pair of windows. The top, meanwhile, bore a pair of flintlock rifles that were crossed over each other; gray with a brown outline. And yes; rifles was an accurate emblem of Steel Lock.
Indeed as we rode into town I noticed that guns of various kinds were in open display. They weren't common by any stretch of the imagination with maybe one in ten people who were armed having a gun and the bulk were muskets of various types. One thing to note is muskets here worked a tad different. In my old world to use a musket you jammed a cloth into the muzzle, added powder, added the bullet and then jammed it all down before taking aim and firing. Eostia had it simplified; a small, pellet shaped bag with the powder could be shoved in before the bullet. I've heard that more recently that they put the powder and bullet into the same bag, twisted in the center to avoid mixing the two. In other words you could fire more then two or three shots a minute as you could skip one or two steps.
You could also see guns that used proper bullets with brass cartridges but those firearms were a minority (One in ten of each firearm maybe) and looked like something you'd see in a western; revolvers and rifles. In fact there were three main 'models' of rifle; single shot rifles, Winchester style rifles with a lever and rifle versions of a revolver. And I use the term 'models' loosely; there was no signs of mass manufacture and each rifle seemed a bit unique. Our stop would be Steel Lock Manor in the back of the town and... Well, it looked like a large, cozy manor with green walls and a blue roof. There were pillars holding up a large balcony that ringed most of the second floor with a third floor over top of that. Walling it on the outside was a series of steel bars sticking out of a stone base. We were let into the grounds and rode up to the front of the place; the Mignite Banner on the end of the balcony over the doors. In front of the manor was a large statue of a cannon aimed towards the gate atop of a small keep. It was interesting to say the least.
The guard outside of the manor's door opened them for us; we had called ahead and, sure enough, the local lord had already invested in a voxlux. That made things easier as we stepped in. The place had a very different look then most manors or keeps I've seen lords live in; there was a second floor balcony but the stairs were at the sides of the room close to the front wall as opposed to the back of the room. Instead there was a series of hunting trophies there hanging over the wall. There was the usual for Eotsia; deer, bear, boar and so on plus mounted fish. Then you had the head of a dire wolf, panther, cheetah, lion and a freaking elephant all hanging off the wall. Three hundred years ago Quincy Mignite was a big game hunter who traveled as far as he could for the best game to hunt and by all accounts Steel Lock Manor was littered with his trophies as he wrote down information of the animals in his journal; not just going about, seeing an animal and going 'you are going on the wall' but doing his best to understand them and educate Eostians on these beasts.
Then his brother died, the duchy fell on his shoulders and there was no more gallivanting about the world for him.
"Well now, hoooooowdy!" I hear as I looked up at the balcony as a woman walked out onto it as I blinked and... Well have I said Eostian Texas yet? Well she had that distinct southern states tang to her voice.
She stood some five foot five had her Double D Cup breasts held by a low cut white shirt on under a light brown dress with laces down the middle of the torso, unlaced half way, long sleeves with an attached, matching color cape. A brown belt was around her waist with a revolver at her each side of her hips in brown holsters. Her dress parted on the left side and you could see brown boots on while on the top of her head was... a cowboy hat with a large brim that was over long, brown locks that fell to her hips. Around her neck was a blue jewel on a gold pendant and a smaller one with a rose color over it. "Woooo-wee! Nice ta have you over to our lil' corner of Eostia, Lord Noxdecus. I'm Brandy Mignite; the Duchess of these here parts." She let off as she set a hand on the golden stained wood before vaulting over it with a short jump and dropped to the ground floor, landing with ease before she started to walk to us. "And Lulu ya lil' rascal! Been a dog's age since I saw you last; or it feels like it anyhow." She said with a warm and friendly grin that reached soft, brown eyes.
(-)
Name: Brandy Mignite
Title: The Wild Duchess
Class: Bard
Level: 38
Alignment: Friendly
Reputation: 34
Status: Healthy, Relax, Joyful
Romance Rating: 99
Corruption Rating: 14
Known Traits
[Wild Gunslinger] You have the ability to use pistols as a Primary or Secondary Weapon. Additionally you can dual wield any pistols.
[Quickdraw] You can draw your weapons as fast as lightning. +2 to draw speed. +3 to Dex & Agi
[Reload, Reload] You can reload any crossbow or firearm faster then usual. +10% to reload speed
Current Duchess of Steel Lock she was not meant to be it's ruler however after her eldest brother died in the Garan conflict and her elder sister died in childbirth the duty fell upon her shoulders. In spite of this her people believe she has risen to the challenge and adores her for her friendly and open demeanor as well as her hands on approach to most challenges in her realm.
(-)
"Well, howdy yourself." I replied as she grinned wider at me, slapping her knee softly.
"Ha! Too many other nobles here don't understand the tone of our lil' Duchy." She said as she walked closer, quickly extending her hand for a shake which I returned. "I think you 'n me gonna get along just fine James." She let off as she turned and set a finger and thumb to her lips and gave a long whistle out and a moment later five maids stepped out as Brandy smiled. "Y'all help get their stuff stowed to quarters." She said before looking back to me. "Come along then; y'all had a long ride so let's wet your whistles, eh?"
Given how she hooked her arm to mine and all but dragged me along she wasn't going to take 'no' as an answer, clearly. We got dragged into... Um... A bar. Inside of the manor.
And when I say 'bar' I mean a Wild West style saloon; complete with those small, swinging double doors, wood covered walls, round, wooden tables that were stained dark and well polished, a bar counter with a line of drinks on the wall behind it and even a trio of dart boards but a few things I'm not sure would normally be a western saloon; namely a pool table and a stripper pole.
I wouldn't mind that kinda wild west...
That said the room wasn't empty; a butler was behind the bar cleaning the glasses and a woman was at one of the chairs, leaning it back with her feet crossed and on the table with her own hat covering her face. Brandy sighed as she rolled her eyes, letting me go and walking over to and, with zero warning, set a hand under the girl's calves and lifted them upwards; making her cry out as she spilled out onto the floor with a yelp. "Bolt you lazy girl! What did I tell'ya about puttin' yer feet on the tables!" She let off as she set her hands on her hips as the girl, 'Bolt', rolled to all fours and grabbing her hat from the floor as she stood.
"Ahhhh, come on, Ma. I got all the things I need to do did." The five foot six girl let off with her own southern tang to her voice as she looked to her mother with blue eyes. Her hair was dark brown and waist long as she set her hat back on her head; white with a more normal brim with the sides curled up and a brown band around it with a series of bullets held within. Her D-Cup Breasts was covered by a white, bikini like top that was tied between the breasts and a trio of small, yellow hearts over the right cup. A poncho was about her shoulders that fell back further in the back and over the chest in the front; it was red with dark red lines giving it a squared pattern and slightly spaced, short yellow tassels along the edge. At the collar and offset to the left was a brass sheriffs star with rounded tips.
Her right arm bore a bronze bracer around the right forearm. Brown, cut off shorts were around her hips with the straps of a thong showing over it. A set of white chaps that fell just past the knees were held up with a yellow belt with a belt buckle that looked like a horse outline on it. A holster with a revolver hung off her right hip while another was another was strapped to her left thigh. Another two straps were on the right thigh over the knee and under the chaps. Finally on her feet was a set of white cowboy boots with off white designs and a yellow colored sole... And attached, rounded spurs on the back of them. She finally blinked as she noticed us as Brandy sighed and looked at me.
"Bolt this is James Noxdecus; our guest for the night and his company." She began. "James, this girl is Bolt my pain in the arse daughter."
"Ahhhh, come on Ma, that ain't fair..." Bolt said before looking to me and giving me a once over before tipping her hat slightly. "Howdy."
(-)
Name: Bolt Mignite
Title: Wild Heiress of Steel Lock
Class: Gunner
Level: 24
Alignment: Friendly
Reputation: 28
Status: Healthy, Relaxed, Annoyed
Romance Rating: 83
Corruption Rating: 10
Known Traits
[Reflexive Quickdraw] You can draw your weapons faster then lightning. +4 to draw speed. +5 to Dex & Agi
[?]
[Reload, Reload] You can reload any crossbow or firearm faster then usual. +10% to reload speed
The daughter of Brandy Mignite and a favored consort she is the current heir to the Duchy. Known for a relaxed and easy going manner she is of the opinion of kicking down problems to people as close to them as possible and prefers to oversee and protect them over deciding for them. She's considered by some as too easy going to rule a duchy.
(-)
"Howdy." I said, giving her a wave as Bolt seemed to smile wider before Brandy clapped her hands twice.
"A'right y'all; grab yourself a seat." She let off with a grin. "Bobby at the bar can get ya a good drink and I'll have someone get some snacks out here to munch on."
There was six seats to a table and the one I ended up at had Brandy to my left, Bolt to my right, Lulu across from me and Finlay and Makoto on her sides. That left Miria, Cress, Riri, Ur'Akara and Edda to one nearby. A maid was quick to arrive and act as waitress as light conversation started with Brandy starting us off with asking about what Mungale was like. Brandy had a glass of, well, brandy while Bolt opted for a scotch. Lulu ordered whiskey and guessing I wasn't getting away with drinking just juice I ordered a mead.
From there it evolved to talking about my journey thus far; fighting the Hog Queen, the Garan forces in Arafe, playing Phoenix Wright for some pirates (I finally got to yell 'Objection!' by mimicking Lodo's tone in the court), fighting Blood Caller and the mercenaries in Caul. Naturally the stuff in Rad was off limits for talking about either because it was suicide (The Freebirds and Victor) or too nuts to go back into (Xenera... Just Xenera...) and a few other bits here and there.
For her part Brandy talked about Steel Lock and how things were going and Bolt chimed in here and there. As it turned out Bolt was a gunsmith and made her own guns... as well as Brandy's guns. Brandy rolled her eyes at the mention before admitting that her guns were of high quality as Bolt had figured out a particular technique for rifling and a better ratio of rifling. For the unaware it's the twist within a gun's barrel that makes the bullet spin as it comes out; increasing it's stability as it travels through the air giving it more accuracy. I had some interest but it was Lulu asking most of the questions on that one which eventually led her to talking about her train, my potential contribution and so on.
Being a pair of cowgirls in a fantasy land the two were very interested in the idea of a train.
Regardless I would eventually excuse myself to my quarters before too much booze started to flow... As well as the fact Brandy and Lulu seemed poised to try and drink each other under the table... And Riri was joining in on that...
Given her history I wasn't fully comfortable with that but I was Riri's boss and not her owner; it wasn't my place to tell her not to drink enough alcohol to drown a bull in. Yes, she could do that. I've seen her do it. I wish she wouldn't but unless she was going to be drunk off her ass on a regular basis I'd hold off on the intervention.
I tried to put those thoughts away as I got back to work on my holy/fire spell for a bit. I made a bit of headway but reached a block that I did the equivalent of banging my head into a wall for awhile before deciding to step away from it for a while. Instead I broke out the bows I had bought and pulled out a red and blue pair of spell stones that were the size of large marbles and started to attach them into place into the bows. I made sure they were secure and wouldn't come loose even if rattled or if they took an impact before getting to work.
As one might have guessed I was planning to give them to Cress and Miria once done. I was focused on a lot of self improvement and with good reason; whatever was coming I needed to grind levels, get good equipment, get and make good spells and so on. I had been doing that and thanks to Lulu would have a hell of a sword coming down the pipeline. I needed some better armor but I wasn't sure what I could do about that yet. Maybe get some good plate armor once I got my class upgrade but I couldn't use it until then. I could go for some Armor Weave or Mana Armor if I could find something that wasn't going to make everything in my bank vanish.
However it wasn't enough; I needed to do the same for those around me. The voxlux was that something on a macro scale that would better Eostia but I needed something on the micro scale; namely my friends and family. On the one hand they were coming along well level-wise. Riri, Aeris, Miria and Makoto had all hit level twenty two thus far while Cress and Ur'Akara hit twenty however that wasn't enough; they would also need better equipment. That being said there were limits on what I could do for Aeris beyond finding some good quality Arcane Robes for her as her staff was very high quality. Makoto I had an idea for but I was not in a position to do it yet. Riri's blades were a major upgrade, doubly so once I enchanted them so some sort of better armor would be the aim for her; leather gambeson or Armor Weave. Ur'Akara was in a similar position save the weapons.
Likewise for both Miria and Cress leather gambeson or Armor Weaves would be a big step up (More so for Miria; sexy as she was bare skin wasn't ideal armor. Thankfully she was a mostly ranged fighter) but better weapons was the other main upgrade they could use and I planned to help with that. My plan for enchanting them was simple and would have three parts to it.
Part One: The usual shit. In short; reinforcing the bows to avoid breaking under strain to strike, ones to make the bow require less pull strength to draw it back while giving the arrows more force upon being fired, quieting the sounds when firing, that sorta stuff.
Part Two: Arcane Weapon. I planned to add a built in Arcane Weapon spell that would form an arrow. Both knew how to manipulate mana to a degree, more so Cress but with training they could use it without trigger words. This was to combat one possible issue about any sort of ranged weapon user; running out of ammo. Having Arrows made from Arcane Weapon wasn't an unlimited ammo cheat but if I was right it was close to; if fully topped up on mana it should give a couple hundred shots based on the stone's size and quality. I also added a sword form to it as well; just in case.
Part Three: Elemental Weapon Enhancements. In short I was going to add Blazing, Frozen, Shocking, Blessed, Soaked, Earthen, Breeze, Shade and Shadowblaze Weapons into it. It would apply one of them to the arrow at will to do more damage and add an element to it; be it a physical arrow or arcane formed one. One issue both had was the lack of magical damage they could do and given the near miss with a bunch of fucking Blood Slimes I think it was a good idea to give them something to handle that in the future. Sure, using the elemental enhancements would eat up the mana faster, maybe doubling the mana cost but the benefits would be worth it.
Of course with Observe I knew they were better weapons then what they currently had and that was before I gave them my own little touch. It would take a bit to finish but once I was done they'd be pretty damn potent. Aeris' staff was quite good, as was Tiffany's; the best I could do for her was a better spell book. That would leave Ur'Akara and Makoto for weapons.
Sadly there was only so much I could do at the moment. No sense not to do what I could do at least, then. And given how the trip had gone so far I was unsurprised wholly when there was a knock on my door. "Come in." I called out as the door opened. I had a guess who was coming in and had a fifty-fifty chance of getting it right. Sure enough when I reached a good stopping point in my work I set the bow down and turned to look at who came in; Bolt. "How can I help you?"
"Ha! All the fellas in Mungale as friendly as you?" She let off, walking to the edge of the desk as she set a hand on it, leaning on her hand and over me as she smiled.
"Ehhhhh, I wanna say yes but like people every state, city and town has an asshole." I said with a shrug as she snickered at me.
"Sad, but true." She said chuckling as she looked to the desk and the bows on them. "I'm guessin' you ain't trying to dual wield those."
"I'd need an extra set of hands to pull that off." I let off with a soft chuckle. The bows were a style of short bows called recurve bows. The limbs of these bows would face away from the user when unstrung and the weapons, even without enhancement, were more powerful then straight limbed bows that were longer. It was ideal for tighter quarters firing, firing around brush or from horseback. Additionally being smaller meant they would be better when attacking from stealth. Of course the materials were under more stress due to the design of the bow and could make more noise then usual when firing; hence the addition of the noise reduction enchantment.
Both bows were made from a dark stained wood with black, diamond patterns going along the limbs that went from the handle, curved back and then curved out near the ends. Black leather wrapped around the handles with a slight divot just above the handle where the spell stones were attached with two brass straps a third of the way from the top and bottom holding them tightly.
"Ha. If I ever need some enchantments done on my eight shooters I'll give ya a'hollar." Bolt let off with a giggle. And yes; she said eight shooters. Revolvers in Eostia were... not standardized. You had six shooters, seven shooters, eight shooters, nine shooters and even ten shooters. Of course six to eight was the norm; turns out when the bullet chamber gets too big and heavy some issues crop up. "But anyway; I didn't wander over here just to wag my tongue about what'cha doin' here; I was wondering about a lil'something concernin' magic and seein' we got ya here I thought I'd wander over and ask."
"Well, I'm no Grand Magus but I consider myself well educated on the subject." I said as I turned in my seat to more fully look at her. "Shoot."
"I heard some magic folk will use any sorta element on anything with an element." She said, blinking. "Ain't there like elements that are strong to one another or somethin'?"
"No, not exactly..." I said as I leaned back in my seat. "Okay, obviously there's opposite elements; water and fire, wind and earth, light and darkness, lightning and ice with arcane being a neutral element. But you need to understand under normal circumstances there's no 'strengths' or 'weaknesses' to the elements but rather interactions. Water spells will have an easier time overcoming fire spells but will generate steam. That's obvious. Earth spells can fully block lightning spells. Fire spells will melt and weaken ice spells. However light will try and push dark spells back while dark spells will try and swallow light spells. Of course that's just the oversimplification; interactions will shift with different spells interacting; there are fire spells designed to counter water spells by evaporating them quickly."
"Huh... I guess that makes sense; I mean lightning might scorch the ground where it hits but it ain't gonna hurt it none." She said before frowning in thought. "But you said not exactly?" She said as I nodded once.
"There are conditions where a spell of an element will cause more harm to something then normal." I said holding up a finger. "People in general have mana in them that are balanced. Some have a slight lean this way or that but it's often minute. Some lean enough to matter leading some mages to be stronger with one element and weaker with others. Some beings have harsher leans by nature, like harpies to wind or mermaids to water. However hard leans are uncommon; leans that are to a point where one type of mana is so much stronger then the rest are rare and often leaves the opposite element wanting. I'm not sure how well you know of it but the Forever Green Forest is such a place; the earth mana is so strong that trees within it grew fast and rapid and the lands near it are almost hyper fertile. However it's much easier to damage the trees there with anything boasting wind mana. Once you reach a harsh lean like that the opposite element acts as, for lack of a better term, a shock to the system. This is because having a balance of elements means a balance of resistances. Of course that means knocking a tree there down with an earth spell is about as useful as as trying to drown a fish."
She gave a soft snicker as I kept going. "The rare cases where this doesn't happen is when two opposite elements gain such harsh leans. Of course there's a chance in that case that another element or more then one are so weak in them that any other spell type will have the same effect. That said; as a rule this only applies to the elements and not arcane magic. Arcane is treated as an element for classification for most people but it doesn't really count; it's more or less magic in absence of an element. That why you'll see most mages use arcane magic to some degree as even a harsh lean leaves it a useful type. Of course in rare cases where a mage has a weaker then normal balance in all elements you'll see an arcane focused mage. Hell, some mages focus on arcane as that type of magic really does have a lot of utility to it."
"Huh..." She gave off with a nod as she tapped a finger to her chin. "That's interestin', yeah..."
"If I can ask why did you want to know all of that?" I asked as she shrugged.
"Well I've been considerin' an element based enchantment for the ole' girls but didn't want to get stuck with something that ain't gonna work." She said with a bit of a grin.
"Well you can set multiple such enchantments on it-" I let off as her eyes widened. "-as long as you have a good enough spell stone set to it, either in quality or size."
"Oh; well ain't that good ta know?" She let off with a giggle as she leaned in a bit more. "And I admit; I had another thing I wanted ta-" She was cut off as I reached up with one hand, grabbed the knot holding her top together and pulled until it came undone, her breasts falling out and free as she looked down and blinked. "... This happen to you before?"
"More then once." I said with a shrug as she giggled, reaching up and undoing a fastener of her poncho, before pulling her arms back, hands pointed down letting it and her top fall off of her. She would pull her hat off and set it aside as I stood up and moved back a bit, moving to get my own top off. She would undo her left holster and belt and push her chaps and short down; pushing her boots off as she stepped from them, just as I slipped my own pants and underwear off. She bent over to push her thong off and I got an idea.
While she was bent over I moved in and grabbed her about the waist, making her yelp out before I lifted her up as I stood up straight, holding her upside down before shifting her so we were facing each other; although with our faces before the other's genitals. I got her legs around my head and moved my hands to her ass, holding it firmly as I set my lips to her sex, kissing it first before dragging the tip of my tongue along it.
She needed no more encouragement then her position and I felt her lips wrap about my cock straight away before bobbing her head quickly; not trying to get it all in but rather just focusing on sucking the first half of my dick. One hand braced her against my hip while the other wrapped around the bottom half of my cock, stroking away as I started to move back towards the bed; back to avoid stepping on her hair that no cascaded to the floor now she was inverted. She moaned around my cock and once at the bed I turned about and gently laid her down on her back. I gave her clit a long, loving suckle before pulling back and started to move back; preparing for the main event... Only to have her clap her hands to my ass and pull me in with enough force that I stumbled forwards and hilted myself in her throat. Given the long, deep moan that vibrated my cock she either didn't mind or it's what she wanted.
I decided to oblige and moved a hand to her sex, driving two fingers into her as I started to rock my hips; face fucking her as she moaned, my balls slapping over her nose with each full press into her lips. As I pressed my thumb to her clit, rubbing the side of it over it as I rocked down a bit harder and seeing no response beyond a loader moaned under me I kept up the pace.
I kept it up as long as I could but in the end I could only take so much before I came down her throat as she moaned around me as I put a bit more pressure onto her clit. It took a moment but the soft squirt and change in tone of her moan told me all I needed to know as I finally pulled free of her lips with her giving a smack of her lips. "Ahhhh... Shoulda pulled ya back a bit in the end; didn't get a full taste... Ah well..."
"In fairness you pulled me right in and didn't let go." I pointed out as she rolled around and pushed up to her knees before she shrugged.
"When a girl wants some semen in her belly she goes out'an gets it." She replied with a shrug. "Now get your ass on the bed and lay back; I got me a stallion to ride here." I couldn't help but chuckle softly to her request as she shuffled to the side giving me a little more room to roll onto the bed on my back. She didn't even wait for a moment before straddling me; taking hold of my cock and stroking it for a long moment as she smiled down at me. "Heh... Stallion ain't a bad term to use here, ain't it?" Once satisfied she lifted her hips up and set the tip to her sex, wedging it in before dropping down sudden and hard as I groaned out deep under her as her own groan mixed with mine as her hands planted onto my chest.
I had only gotten my hands on her hips before she rocked her hips fast and hard. No, really; she was slamming her hips down onto mine to the point you could hear her ass clap onto me while clenching down on me. I mean jeeze, this girl didn't know how to do things in half measures, huh? She groaned out deeply as she slammed herself down harder and rocked her hips in a circle as she fucked herself on my cock as I moved my own hands up her sides to cup her breasts, squeezing them as she leaned over to make them easier to reach. I moved to pinch her nipples as she mewled a bit, pausing her thrusts onto my hips to grind our pelvises together before going back to rocking hard onto me once more.
Her rocking on my hips became faster and more frantic likely about to reach her peak... Not that I minded as I was about to reach my own as I groaned out under her; thrusting back up into her from underneath. Her hips slammed down harder and harder before she rammed herself down one last time, giving a long, deep moan as her sex gripped me hard as she came; triggering my own climax from how tight she clenched on me as she leaned over me as my balls pushed another load into her second set of needy lips. Once her climax settled down she half collapsed onto me, arms moving around my neck as she laid on my front.
"Wheew... I needed that..." She let off as I wrapped my arms around her hips as we panted. "He he he, thanks for indulgin' a girl."
"My pleasure." I let off as I gave her rump a soft swat.
"More our pleasure I'd say." She joked, laughing softly. "Mmmmm, and ta think I get you to myself for a bit."
"Oh? You thought your mother would beat you here or something?" Given how the two acted earlier I'd be unsurprised of the two had a small, family rivalry going on but to my surprise she shook her head.
"Nah, my Ma prefers her men to be... cuter." She said as I blinked.
"Cuter?"
[-]
Steel Lock Manor
Cress' Quarters
"Yes..." Brandy let off as her hips clapped down, her nude body slapping itself down onto the cock of Cress under her; equally nude and with a nipple pressed to his lips, his own hands on her hips. "Big dicked pretty boys are the best!" She let off as her eyes rolled back in her head as she shivered over her.
[-]
"Ahhh..." I let off as she giggled and pushed up, turning herself about as she got her legs under her once more.
"Now then... Time for another ride on this stallion..." She let off as she started to rock her hips once more; slower this time but rocking her hips in a way to somewhat twerk her ass over me. I did not argue with the visual stimulation as round two started...
[Fucked List]
Bolt Mignite=100xp x 5 First Time Bonus=500xp
+20% Dark Horse of Eostia Bonus
Gain 600xp Total
[ - Author's Note - ]
Whew... that's seventeen and a half thousand closer to the one million words mark for the story. Man, this story is getting huge...
I mean it's already huge but still...
I had a lot of this story semi-planned out from the start; Lulu making a working locomotive, the sage dragonborne (As soon as I stumbled over that image I knew she was going to be my halfling dragonborne sempai!) and the idea that James didn't fully understand how to use his Dragon's Breath in full. The idea of being able to change it's elements is new however.
And yes, Steel Lock being a western state in a fantasy land was an idea I've had for awhile. When I made the decision to include the possibility of firearms I decided I wanted a state dedicated to guns more then the others. As such I had two options to for it; gong for a Napoleonic style or a Wild West style. Given that I had decided I'd include revolvers going Wild Wild West seemed like the best idea.
And yes, I am resisting the urge to have Lulu make a giant, mechanical spider. Fun as that would be.
As before the poll is up on strawpoll(Dot Com)/polls/GeZAOO6oXnV for the Best Rad Banners. Please; if you haven't done so already go and vote.
As for next chapter... We'll see who Edda wants to introduce James to...
Until then!
~~Eostian Scribe