-Ch 33 part 2-
“You're gonna take it, and use it.” Hera decreed.
“But–” Nyke started.
Hera twisted and whispered something in her ear. She kept on going and Nyke’s face went redder and redder until I thought she might be suffering a damaging condition. She coughed, and nodded.
“Rav?” Hera asked, smugly.
The healer nodded. “I thought it should be hers from the start. Jennie?”
Jennie nodded. “I owe her. Shut UP, Eir.”
I closed my mouth on the objection I had been about to make.
There was no escaping it. And gods knew, I needed the damn thing. It was the whole reason I had made those crazy vows.
[Catalyst of Chaos]
The second I took the orb from the chest, it dissolved into sunlight and swirled into me, red hot and electrifying.
It swirled within me, endless potential awaiting direction.
A quick poll passed through our Bonds. Votes landed on my [Familiar Bond] skill and I directed the catalyst thence.
It roared into the skill, exploring it. Shaping and being shaped by it.
I dragged breath into my lungs. And again. I felt like I was full of wildness, and caprice. Danger and utter … stillness. Within all of it… a rigid structure. Utterly perfect. Immutable. As predictable as the ripples on the sea.
“Well. That settles for certain that it was meant for you.” Jennie said, amused.
[Sleight of place]: exchange places of two or more members of your party! Which place is taken is chosen randomly!
What the…?
Curious, I activated the skill.
I felt an odd little tug on my bonds.
Then, abruptly I was falling. I crashed to the ground, straight into Lucy. The quick thinking bunny girl was able to catch me smoothly, albeit with a startled yelp.
I stared around in disorientation.
Lorna was where I had been standing.
Serenity was in Lorna’s spot.
Lucy had taken Violette’s spot which allowed her to catch me, falling from where Serenity had been hovering over Violette’s grabby hands.
Violette was in Lucy’s spot looking slightly drunk, wavering on the spot and giggling.
My soul spiked with exhaustion.
“Fuck, it's a mana guzzler!” I groaned, clutching my head.
Lucy cradled me sympathetically to her ample breasts. Which I told myself did not help. I surreptitiously nuzzled closer into the softness. Lucy cooed happily, welcoming me to her bosom.
“That, is going to make you a fucking nightmare to spar.” Hera whistled.
“Too complicated.” Nyke muttered. “Should have sold it.”
“The possibilities, though!” Jennie gushed, looking around at us like she was calculating gambling odds.
~~~~~~~~~~
We emerged from the Dungeon with our haul of loot, and showered it down on the student who was working Bernsley’s usual spot. She counted it all up against an elaborate spreadsheet and made us an offer that Hera immediately accepted.
She stacked out the Loftys, leaving us each with the biggest payday of our Bayloft lives.
“Four hundred and twenty-two Loftys EACH!” Hera said happily, sorting out the little piles of gold, silver, and bronze coins for each of us.
She bumped the stacks against each other so we could all see they were even, and then gleefully scooped her own into her bag.
“That’s two months of rent in our apartment!” Jennie said, bug eyed.
“That’s savings for the next round of gear upgrades.” I nodded.
“That’s ice cream money!” Ravale murmured.
“Ice cream?” Violette perked up.
“Where’s everyone?” I asked the girl we’d sold to.
“Most of the Faculty got summoned to this big tribunal thing.” She shrugged.
“By WHO?” Jennie asked.
Yeah… who could summon the Bayloft faculty anywhere??
“Gott.” The girl answered with a shrug.
Oh fuck.
The northern neighbor that Bayloft had once been a fortress against.
As far as I knew, it was only the Eirie mountains and Bayloft-when-it-was-a-fortress that had kept them from absorbing the loose collection of city-states that dotted the southern side of the continent.
“The North wants to make us give them the big demon looking people, but they won’t say why. ‘Protection’ or some bullshit.” The girl continued.
“Protection for whom?” Hera scoffed. “They’re safer at Bayloft than basically anywhere else in the world. We are a fucking mountain castle full of Wayfinders.”
“What about classes this week, if the teachers are all gone?” I asked.
Desk-girl shrugged. “Cancelled until they get back.”
“Snow days!” Ravale clapped.
“Extra diving!” I gushed.
“Dates?” Lucy suggested in a small voice.
I stopped. I had been promising dates to each of my lovely Familiars, and gods knew they deserved it. And I could use some good one on one time with them.
My girls’ expressions ranged from openly hopeful (Lucy) to heavily feigned disinterest (Violette).
“Dates.” I agreed.
Jennie coughed.
“You too, cutie.” I nodded.
She spluttered.
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For a legendary catalyst, that effect seems kinda... bad? Any combination of high cost + unreliable effect is usually just not worth it, and from the brief glimpse we got of this skill's effect that seems to hold true. With randomized abilities like this you should never use them unless you have a plan for the worst-case effect.
I suppose it would be a bit useful as a hail-mary to bail Eir out of danger, but the disorientation it inflicts, complete lack of reliability, and high cost completely kneecap it's tactical potential.
I'm sure it's going to come in clutch a bunch because it's randomness also provides a lampshade for blatant plot armor, but from what we've seen I would genuinely toss that ability out and try to get literally anything that can actually be reliable, even if the catalyst is "worse". I get that she's the harbinger of chaos, and plot armor will ensure everything works out, but you really cannot gamble with everyone's positioning and safety like that in the middle of battle (especially if she gets a more squishy familiar in the future).
Honestly, the more I think about this ability, the worse it gets
True, true.
But imagine the s*x potential!
It's a very fair thought. Thing with these rare catalysts is that they don't give stronger effects, persay. Just rare ones. The best use case hides a little, in this scene. "Two or more" means that Eir can cast it on only two members, swapping just them, either herself and a Familiar, or two of her Familiars.
The cost scales with how many members and how far apart.
So there's some plot armor potential which I shall shamelessly exploit. But there is also a lot a gaming that Eir can do with this one, depending on who she selects, and when. <3
@SukiSays Swapping Lorna with people is a horrifying thing to attempt to plan against.
Violette just exposed her position to fire an arrow? Not anymore *swap*
Think you guarded against that crazy rabbit's punches? Lorna snuck above you *swap*
Oops, that's not Lucy suddenly dropping towards you from above, it's Serenity.
Hah, thought you finally managed to pin Eir into a space she'd have to surrender? *swap*
Yeah, the destructiveness of this effect scales based on how short the cooldown is.
@Kaithar
no reason you'd have noticed yet, but cool downs and costs are going down just a touch with each level. Also cool downs are a little squishy, like how you can punch more often with more effort, if you really want to.
@SukiSays btw, as a thought, maybe stick a part 1/part 2 in the title of these two chapters?
@Kaithar one day, perhaps, I will get the logistics of this thing down. Until then I appreciate you helping me keep things chugging long. Lol!
Now imagine what happens to the soft fleshy bits of someone who is possessed when Lorna gets swapped with Serenity.
@Esidra Well it's Chaos... So I'd say Lorna gets swapped with whoever she's possessing until the effect ends. That means body swap :D