“Senser.”
The corner of Lady Bentham’s mouth twitched slightly as she glanced over at Jase, “Incredible, I didn’t know you cullets were even capable of simple deduction.”
… Did I just get called a fantasy slur? I could see Jase frown slightly out of the corner of my eye- yeah, I probably just got called a fantasy slur. But also- hey Jase, buddy, why weren’t you going over there and kicking her ass before she even knows what she’s going to do? Don’t you have future sight powers? Why are you sweating, this is not very reassuring, Jase.
Lady Bentham barked out a laugh, her expression finally changing from stoney indifference to something a lot crueler.
“Having reception issues, child? Go on- strike me. Try to get a read- if you can, that is.”
Alright, forget punching Lord Bentham. This lady’s got to fucking go. I whipped forward a ball bearing, Jase turning towards me with panic on their face as I tethered it forward with as much might as I could-
It stopped about halfway between me and Lady Bentham, as a new tether sprung up between it and her. Her eyes glanced towards me, and I felt my feet slip just a little beneath my feet. I gritted my teeth.
“How much does that ridiculous fucking dress weigh, lady?”
It wasn’t really ridiculous- about as flouncy as any old-timey dress you might see in a movie or something. Definitely seemed like I hit a nerve at least- the cruel mirth extinguished from Lady Bentham’s face, as she fully turned to face me; she whipped her hand forward as a dozen tethers connected to my new outfit.
WHAM!
I couldn’t even process how fast I was blasted into the wall- one second I was there, and the next I was gasping as my back flared up in a ghostly approximation of pain, the air forced out of my lungs.
I shuddered as I slid to the ground, my vision swimming. That blast took out a good third of my health- it didn’t really hurt, but it was definitely disorienting, Jesus Christ.
Distantly, I could tell that Jase was fighting the noblewoman. I hope I at least created an opening for them- a distraction for them to slip their blades into.
I took a breath.
‘Come on. Stand up- this is a game, you’ve still got health left. Two on one, help even the odds- even if she can use multiple abilities. Get UP!’
I stood, jaw clenched as I smacked my cheek a little. Jase was on the back foot- barely deflecting blows from Lady Bentham that were raining down impossibly fast for a normal person. Okay, three- that was THREE abilities she had shown off now. She couldn’t have everything, right?
God I hope she couldn’t have every Ashbound ability. There had to be an upper limit, for gameplay balance reasons at the very least.
Her back was to me- well, there was an easy way to tell if she had Jase’s future-sight at the very least. She pounced forward, nearly hanging in the air as I focused and waited for the right moment.
A bullet in my hand. Tethered forward, as I mentally grabbed onto Jase’s boots and pulled them to me. They leaned back, sliding underneath her as my projectile buried itself square in her back, earning a shout of pain as she tumbled into a roll, turning towards us with a glare.
“Predict THAT, fucker!”
I harried her with more shots- most pinged away as they seemed to hit a bubble of telekinetic force surrounding her (God, I WANTED that!), but there was something to be said about quantity sometimes. With a shout, she tethered to my armor again- but she wasn’t going to fool me twice. I tethered onto her: her dress, her corset, each layer of ruffled cloth and banded metal jewelry, anchored like a lifeline.
Whoever made that dress certainly must have used some quality digital materials- she was still winning the push match somehow, but instead of a full blast, I simply started to slide backwards.
Sweat beaded on her forehead, and I could see the glow in her eyes flaring brightly- and then dimming to normal brown after a second. I shot towards her, feet first, and connected directly with her face.
Just like most of the pre-exodus world, she crumpled. I huffed a few breaths- my Light was dangerously low. It was a gamble, betting on her combination abilities draining her Light faster, but hey a winning bet’s a winning bet, right?
Congratulations! You are now Level 3!
“Oh, yippee,” I mumbled, collapsing backwards onto the bed, still trying to catch my breath. Jase was over by me in a second, grabbing onto my arm.
“Uh-uh, no resting on the job, there’s no WAY the guards didn’t hear that- come on!”
I groaned, letting them drag me up- I waved them off when I was on my feet, and they dashed over to Lady Bentham.
Oh, there we go- yeah, they were straight up just pocketing the jewelry off of her- oh shit, a hidden belt of Light vials, how’d she hide that?
Actually, nah, those ruffles were probably easy to hide stuff in.
Jase ducked out of the room, and I was soon on their heels. Distantly, I could hear the thumping of boots approaching.
“Shortcut time!”
I grabbed Jase by the arm, tethering to the opposite wall and pushing us both- crashing through a window and tumbling outside into the lawn. I nearly managed a soft landing, but Jase’s extra weight had me tumbling in spite of the three-point tether I had managed onto a cobbled pathway. Still, we were alive and we could get out.
“We need to grab Cyrus,” Jase said, standing with a wince.
“Do you think they already grabbed him?”
They chewed on their lip, flexing their hands as they looked from the window we jumped from, towards the front of the party. The lights from the ballroom were still lit- and there didn’t seem to be a ruckus going on at that end of the manor, at least.
“Jase!”
“I don’t know- fuck it, we’ve already gone loud, come on!”
The light mist in the yard swirled around us as we dashed towards the front, closer and closer to the warm glow shining out of the stained glass windows that decorated the ballroom.
Zhwip!
Zhwip! Zhwip!
I managed to hear the first two shots, but I couldn’t dodge the third, and it clipped my shoulder, dinging my health a little more than I’d like- oh, no you fucking don’t! With a brief mental command I pulled up the menu while running and slammed all five attribute points into Toughness, now nearly matching my Awareness, and punched the two new skill points into Power- I didn’t need to think about it, I just needed to survive.
I jumped, twisting backwards to unleash a scatter-blast of metal at the pursuing guards, catching a few- but some managed to block their vital areas with wide, flat metal gauntlets, like miniature shields. I tried to tether onto one of them, and it slipped- just like with that messed up dog.
Holy shit, were those gauntlets designed to pierce into them? What the fuck was wrong with these people?!
Game programming. These weren’t real people making decisions- I had to remind myself of that, briefly- they were programmed, they couldn’t actually feel anything from this pretty messed up bit of worldbuilding logic- ones and zeroes, electrical impulses.
It was increasingly hard to remember that when they acted so… real. I’ve done fantasy action games before- and sure, enemy behavior algorithms have come a long way since ancient classics like Skyrim. But at the same time, there was still a very obvious artificiality to it.
These guards were smart. They knew how to best fight against in-universe dangers. It was thrilling, but also terrifying.
“Ash! Here!”
Jase flung a vial my way, and I tethered to it, snatching it out of the air as it flew to me with shocking speed. Might have almost fumbled it- alright, had to keep my Agility and Power well balanced here. I flashed it to my hotbar- “Sense-Attuned Light”.
“Find Cyrus, I’ll keep them busy!”
“Wait-!”
Jase was already downing a vial themselves, and a tether leaped from them to my chest armor as they shoved me back- I recovered quickly, but they were already a flurry of blades, leading the guards into the stoney garden maze.
God damn it! Stupid, self-sacrificial bullshit- AUGH!
I chugged the vial, feeling a second pool of power next to my main source, burning lightly as I tried to pull on the power. A cacophony of tones echoed in my ears- a rhythmic, clock-like pealing coming from the garden nearly drowning out a half-dozen other tones, a staccato of notes just short of panic but barely holding it together chiming from the ballroom- shit, this was going to take practice. I tethered to the ground, moon-jumping once, twice, then a third time, gaining height with each consecutive push before curling up as I crashed straight through my second window tonight.
Subtle just wasn’t in the cards tonight. I wasn’t leaving Jase out there for long, especially with guards that might have a Senser- the opposite of sensing the use of magic was interfering with it, that was fucking busted!
But maybe I could use that to my advantage, once I grabbed Cyrus. Doubt I could manage the Finesse needed to focus any of that on specific people, but if I blasted hard enough with enough warning for Cyrus and Jase, we could get the upper hand.
I tethered briefly to a ceiling beam, hanging above the crowd at the height of my arc as I scanned the shocked and screaming crowd. That panicked chiming was strongest from over- there! There’s that silly fucking hat and scarf!
Cyrus was putting on a great performance, acting as frightened as the rest of the crowd- shit, I couldn’t break his cover, we might need to actually infiltrate something like this again- with WAY more planning next time.
Okay, this was gonna be a crazy stupid plan- unless it worked. Still crazy, but if it worked…
I snapped a brief tether to a pillar right next to him, unsheathing a dagger as I flipped over him and pressed it to his throat.
“Nobody move, or the old man gets it!”
There was another cry of shock from the gathered nobility- some of the patrolling guards on inside duty burst through doors on the opposite side. I grit my teeth, and whispered.
“Play along.”
“Y-you damnable ruffian! I swear, the mandate will see you strung up!”
“Call the mandate,” I threatened, projecting my voice as loud as I could, desperately hoping I could keep the wavering I could feel from breaking out, “And I’ll show the rest of us cullets that your kind can bleed.”
The guards had pushed through the crowd, freezing at my threat as I slowly made my way towards the door leading outside. Cyrus blubbered- damn, this guy really was a good actor.
“Aegis protect- please, I don’t want to die!”
The noble crowd behind me parted, frightened murmurs echoing the circular room as the lead guard grit his teeth and glared at me from under his cap. The chatter had my ears twitching, and my nerves already on high alert-
I heard a third, distinctive tone. A slow rushing of breath, building in intensity, and… words. Actual words- and in a voice that sounded so familiar.
‘Act as my arms, and fight for me.’
I felt the rush of wind behind me, ducking and pushing off the doors behind me with a tether to slide between Cyrus’s legs, hearing him let out a genuinely surprised yelp as I saw something wrap around him out of the corner of my eye. I flipped up onto my feet, knife out towards the guards and a bearing in my hand as I looked towards whoever was gutsy enough to try and-
“RAE!?”
Rae- my roommate, the person I’d been worrying about all night, who had… basically just made herself but a little taller and a LOT buffer- blinked in shock, as the… weird cloak-scarf thing she wore undulated and rippled like muscle, long fabric fingers pulling Cyrus away from me and… presumably to safety.
“Wha- who?!”
“Oh, bugger it all-”
Cyrus gritted his teeth as he focused, but outwardly still appearing in distress- the guards behind me quaked, some dropped their swords, and a few yelped in surprise. The captain, I presumed, froze to the spot, his breathing short and shallow-
A flash of true emotional urgency pinged from Cyrus, and I flung the bearing towards the captain to best try and interrupt him fighting against Cyrus pushing on his fear. He stumbled, and I booked it for the door.
“C’mon!”
Sticking a tether to the door and pushing with a strong burst, it flung open- alright, focusing on Power was definitely paying off dividends, that door had to be pretty damn heavy. Rae glanced from me, the door, the guards, and Cyrus, seemingly also frozen. For the love of- I didn’t have time for this!
“Ash is in the same boat as us,” Cyrus whispered through gritted teeth, keeping his focus ahead on the guards, “I am low on Light and would rather not be caught by the pigs, if you could please render some assistance?”
Rae wavered a bit, before nodding and following backwards after me. I slammed the door shut behind us- no time to collapse just yet. Jase still needed our help.
That was awesome!!!! And now Rae’s here!!!!!!!! I’m so excited
Ooh, yay, they finally met!
Definitely seemed like I hit a nerve at least- the cruel mirth extinguished from Lady Bentham’s face, as she fully turned to face me; she whipped her hand forward as a dozen tethers connected to my new outfit.
If someone wearing the armor had like a bellybutton piercing or something and some part of the armor looped though it, world that be enough to counter attacks like this?
Good line of thinking- depends on if the armor and the piercing are considered one distinct object or two by the game, I'd say!
next job, the noble has a secret electric guitar / band set right *sparkle eyes* *sparkle eyes* *sparkle eyes*
That fight was epic!