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Guns For Hire Thread 6: The Laine Corporation Bob!t/UKid4z5s 2012/09/11(Tue)19:07 No. 453740 ID: 40fb55

Wiki, complete with prior threads and mechanics: http://tgchan.org/wiki/Gun_for_Hire_Quest
Disc: http://tgchan.org/kusaba/questdis/res/37315.html
IRC: #Golemquest, #Undersewers

GUNS FOR HIRE: THE FIRST SEASON
Armas Laine-a name that's getting some recognition. Current Master of Amen. Leader, laissez-faire director and founder of the magical band of mercenaries known as the Laine Corporation. One-time owner and auctioneer of the Demonic Artifact, Mammon's Device. Pals around with the Turkish Ruling Dragon. Friend of the Wyld Goblins of Istanbul. Went Drinking with the Wizard Mad Drunk. Guardian of both a Valkonen and a War Walker. The spearhead behind removing a german criminal influence from the playing field, shouldering the mafia with a debt to him. But of the man himself, little is yet known. He simply appeared on the playing field, and promptly began tweaking noses like an antagonistic child. Making trollish waves, Armas Laine has settled into not just Istanbul-but into the worlds of magic, and power alike, enjoying the good times, perilous, surreal and oft-horrific as they can be. He was not, and has never been prone to dwelling on things when he could be getting excited about a new thing to investigate. Those of courteous inclinations would call him a child at heart with mostly good intentions-those not so kindly worded would call him a perpetually immature asshole. Both would be right.
Currently, Armas is trying to see his company through clearing a rather large bloat of concurrent jobs and appointments, still trusting his hands-off approach to see his minions through their own duties. On this day…

I answer a few questions, mostly for my own satisfaction, the moment I'm up.

First, I try editing my soul binding from 'only regenerate magical energy [today]' with 'can only perceive souls [today]'. The absolute moment I do HB flies from the room's corner and lands on my nose.
>[HB]"You will stop that."
"Uh-why? I can soul-sense for MILES like this, so-"
>[HB]"Your enhanced regeneration is what allows me to not constantly be shackled to your personage. It is what fuels the swarm I can form-as well as my continued studies of that art. Removing that binding cripples the both of us by removing my magnum opus of magical warfare, and I shall not have it."
"…."

I change the binding back.

Yes, he's my spirit animal-or, I guess he's my familiar, since he's still got his body, I guess. And that, officially, makes him subordinate to me. That said… he's, like, 90% of my coolest current tricks, and I have no clue how to do them on my lonesome if I piss him off forcing the issue. Not to mention I have to date not forced the issue of our relative positions once-and in fact have never told him that ours is anything but a neutrally equal binding. So… back to regen-orientation for my soul-binding it is.

With that… cleared up… I once again explore my mixing of Summer Fleshcrafting and Winter Chakra-but with the aid of HB around, so that in a worst case scenario I can still regenerate. …Okay fine, maybe I shouldn't muck with that binding-that energy supply is why I can even do all this. And so, distracted as I am, I attempt to mix the two-and blow my hand off. It's not that bad, in the grand scheme of things-and after I regenerate the vaporized appendage, I get back to work. What I find is… bothersome. It seems even a little bit of power sets off the explosion-and that the explosion's potent enough that, even if I reinforce my body against it in preparation it still shreds me. I try going with minimum power levels and still run afoul of the explosive reactions, and eventually abandon it after an exhaustive few hours of nothing but failures no matter the permutation, no special ways to slip in any actual functional harmony. I simply don't, at this time, have enough knowledge of hybrid magical theory to really experiment my way into success, I fear-and that leaves study as my one real way to advance. But what to study-should I just ask a dragon to do magic for me? Hardly. I feel that spending pretty much the whole morning conclusively testing this is enough I don't need to worry about this until I've really got more to work with.

After spending some time answering some oh-so-burning internal questions… and by that I mean just the newest iterations of my endless stream of obsessive curiosity-I get on to more productive things. Like-
[In Japanese]"Oy, Sake!"
>[Sake][In Japanese]"Bwuh?"
"Stop licking yourself for a second and tell me what I need to know about interacting with bigwig Yakuza."
Sake lets his bottom flop out of his grasp as he considers the question.
>[Sake]"Hm. Well for one-don't be anything but officially polite unless you want stuff to come down to violence right then and there. The mundane yakuza can be more verbally volatile I've heard, but the magic members know to keep a lid on shit. That doesn't mean you ACTUALLY gotta be polite: Just act like it, you know? In fact, they'll probably respect you a bit more if you can be… authoritatively formal, I guess. …No, not formal-jokes are fine too, but again, only if they're more or less proper looking at face value."
"Passive aggressive dick-wagging contests?"
>[Sake]"Nailed it in one."
"Easy to work with then. So-let's go feed Silja"
>[Sake]"Aw, now? But that'll make me tired all day!"
I ruffle the little furball's coat.
"Relax, I'm just looking for a half treatment-someone might need a rub before tomorrow, after all."
>[Sake]"I guess that works. Nine bodies then?"
"Unless half of what you can do has changed."
>[Sake]"Nope-I've only gotten new soul-tricks, not body tricks."

It says something, how blasé Gianni and Dávgon alike are about their now-daily duties assisting me in what, technically, is the repeated fatal mutilation of a humanoid to feed a monstrous pile of meat. Given I've got a hell of a vested interest in seeing the overly polite and recently chipper Silja reincarnated, I'm not that bothered by what we do. After all-we keep her from feeling any pain from our harvesting, which legally we aren't even required to do.

…Every now and then, I wonder if the darker norms of the Magical world are going to push me past a line that even I'd regret crossing…

Before I pass that off as being a case of bad gas. Yeah, that's it.

I pull out the file on Baki and skim through it once to see if my rough recollection of the man seems to pan out-and then I read it thoroughly, looking for something that feels new. Nothing, really-certainly, I pay a modicum more attention to the reports of his Turkish upbringing making him more confrontational in 'formal' settings than most in his particular field. It's no major breakthrough or critical data point-but it'll help, of that I have no doubt. I ponder it as I get dressed in a particular favorite amongst the suits-the dark-blue suit striped with the word orange. After a google check and a quick talk with Sake, I decide I probably SHOULD do the whole 'bring a gift' thing to be properly savvy of their cultural predilections. …Mandragora root, sounds good to me-Baki's a vegan, it's a vegan food, great. …Eh, might as well cook it. It'll only take me like twenty minutes to whip up some spiced mandragora fries… and wrap it in exceptionally boring chocolate brown wrapping.
>[Sake]"This is gonna be fun, going back among my birth culture!"
You're really gung ho about it, aren't you.
>[Sake]"Totally!"

I check the clock, blow the last half hour on fine-tuning my soul-sensing and sphere labyrinth dual orientation… and decide it's time. First, I walk up to Svetlana, present an open, empty hand, close it, and have HB fleshcraft a hummingbird into my opening palm, which I promptly present to Svetlana and ask her to keep safe for me. Despite the strangeness of the delivery, the beautiful little bird smooths over the reception. Mere and IT on my person, and no other weapons. HB atop my tie, Sake wrapped around my collar. With my gift in hand and SB at my back, I head on out to my appointment, noting the Russians to be heading off for some sort of celebratory meal. After a brisk walk, I'm at the massage parlor-and just like Sake told me, Baki tries to foist the gift back on me-exactly once. Then, when I insist-

He snatches the bag out of my hands with delicate grace.
[Baki][In Japanese]"I'll look at that-now, there's… people that want to talk to you."
[In Japanese]"No doubt-lead the way."
Baki holds his hands up to me with a gentle shake of his head.
[Baki]"Hold on: you armed?"
"Definitely-my Artifacts."
Baki doesn't blink at it-but his soul tells a different story.
[Baki]"Right. Well-follow me."
After the surprisingly brief and wholly verbal weapons check, I'm lead through a back door of the closed shop, where a trio of men, each with wholly warded souls, sit patiently on one side of a long table. I bow to them exactly as much as they do to me, and seat myself in silence while they continue to openly appraise me. It is some ten, fifteen seconds after Baki's excused himself that the one on the left speaks.
[Yak1]"We are representatives of a sect of the Sumiyoshi-kai. Forgive the secrecy, but we are honor-bound to keep our names to ourselves. If you deem it acceptable, please refer to me as Mister Cryptid."
His words lack any sign of accent-and are spoken in english, a further surprise to me. The man speaking has a wing-tipped pompadour over a particularly well-lined and overly sun-drenched face, with his eyelids nearly indistinguishable from the wrinkles surrounding them. His upper lip is oversized, and gives him a simian, almost impish cast. As I take in the man in the burgundy suit and bow tie, I glance to the right, to look at the next speaker-who speaks japanese.
[Yak2][In Japanese]"While my honored colleague Mister Cryptid has so graciously left me with the honor of telling you he represents the Inu-Hanma-rengo, I most deign to name my own accolades as well: I can be known as God Hand, and represent the similarly named Kamiken-rengu"
The name, at first, does nothing. But the thick face, the bullish build, the rough tone… it smacks of something, something I remember from the fighting buffs back in the army and their incessant study of famous badasses. It takes Sake's hiss on my shoulder, his squeak uttered loud enough for my ears alone, the verbalization of the word 'toro' that makes it click: I'm looking at Masutatsu Oyama, the freaking God Hand. …If I wasn't already so acclimatized to running in magic circles, that would have been mightily impressive to me. Now, it's just interesting.

I turn to the man in the middle, dressed in formal japanese wear and wearing an oni mask, surrounded by the scent of incense.
[Yak3]"I'm afraid the Oni aren't truly a union, group or collective to be claimed as my own-so I must simply call myself Oni, representative of the Oni, recursive as it sounds."
From my shoulder, Sake speaks up.
>[Sake]"I am the Kamaitachi trio of Sake, shōchū and Toso."
Pompadour man inclines his head with an apeish smile, and speaks-now in japanese, just like the rest.
[Mister Cryptid]"Your candidness is appreciated on behalf of your honored colleague."
My shadow speaks next, still sticking to my feet.
[SB]"A Shadow of the man that you wished to meet, and as such, every bit as… private, as that sort is known to be."
This introduction seems to go over well enough. My turn.
[In Japanese]"As you no doubt already know, I am Mister Laine, here to represent Laine Corperation, who I assume you are all familiar with."
There are a series of nods…. and the meeting gets underway.

It takes a whopping four hours, at least half of which is just formalities, platitudes, and overly polite speech, but in the end I learn things important enough to warrant such a heavy time investment.
0-Seems they wanted to feel me out as a potential ally that they could look at mutual nonaggression with. This seems almost wholly due to their perception of me as a threat, and can be taken as proof positive I'm actually making a name for myself.
0-Each of the men here either leads or has the ear of the group they represent-and between the three of them, represent three quarters of the Sumiyoshi-kai yakuza members here in Istanbul. This means getting a nonaggression with them isn't QUITE the same as getting one with all the yakuza in Istanbul-but it's damned close, especially with the Sumiyoshi's efforts to keep its Japanese rivals from joining it.
0-The Golden Death Gods, it seems, don't belong to any one clan, but to the wholly magical facet of the overarching yakuza group these three belong to: As such, despite being the strongest group in the Istanbul based yakuza, they have no representatives or say in this meeting, and are effectively owned soldiers.
0-Mister Cryptid attracts my attention by having a whopping three of the seven golden death gods be from his clan prior to their new positions. I get the distinct sense he's the closest thing to a 'boss' of the Golden Death Gods as I'll run into.
0-Seems that my association with a national of theirs, Ito, is a topic they want to bring up-and unless I miss my understanding, they sought my permission to approach the man about teaching some of their own recruits. My gut tells me they're more interested in shutting down Lo Fang's access to Ito.
0-Mister Cryptid's a punny guy, no doubt about it. 'Oni' is every bit as fickle as Iron Trick, and the God Hand… well, he's like a human HB, really. Frankly, I know all their personality types, and have no issue shooting the shit or being serious with them-and it showed in our interactions.
0-Seems that, in addition to non-aggression, they'd like to look into being able to privately hire us to discretely solve internal issues, provided I'd be willing to sign soul-binding documents to enforce my own discretion on any given job. They mention pay grades in the millions, and I inform them I'm interested, but not committed. Each gives me a number, and asks for my own.
0-All three are surprisingly blunt on exactly one topic: Lo Fang. They want him, and his Shaolin influences gone. They won't ask me to stop working with him-but they do ask me to not work against them, and to keep my mind open to a potentially lucrative hit on Lo Fang. I can't deny my curiosity is piqued.
0-Mister Cryptid, at one point, asks if my Hummingbird is the same I traded an Artifact of Mammon for-I confirm it is. He is immensely impressed.
0-Most importantly, I get the sense that if these guys can't see Lo Fang gone in about a season, give or take, they're okay with packing up and heading back home.

Stuffed full of knowledge, we part ways, Baki gives me a cordial nod for the fries, and I head back home. Once there, I spend a solid chunk of evening working with HB on his Swarm shenanigans while Lyubov watches. After several hours of stuff that's still frankly above my head but clearly helps HB, I put in a few hours with Dávgon doing something rather interesting: I tear off bits of my soul to craft into souls inside bugs from the Kudoku jars. Curiously, my Romanovian regeneration lets me ignore the otherwise catastrophic personal damage and use my own soul mass as sculptable material. To be perfectly frank, since I'm making these wholly on my own with Dávgon merely advising, the first hundred and change need Dávgon to come in after me to fix my work. By the last bug though… I feel something like ease at building these, the simplest, smallest, quickest souls to make. The part I found most interesting, I think, was the soul-blanking, where my own soul signature was scoured off the soul mass before it was shaped into the new, tinier souls. After I asked Dávgon, I find that not doing so can rapidly make one an unstable Gate of Self-and seeing how Tesla's version of it, top-notch as it is, is giving Lyubov all sorts of headaches and I already have the clearly superior swarm form to my name, I see no reason to dabble. I DO, however, envision nesting hundreds of exceptionally poisonous ensouled insects in the Golem.

One thing at a time.

With twilight approaching swiftly, I have Amen gather up all the remaining bits of Doonongaes I have. Half a skeleton, two fifths of it's meat and some assorted organs-not that much, all said and done-and that's the argument Whaitiri tries to give me. Long story short though, I spend the wee hours convincing her to give me a boon with the very next magical creature of substance I feed her-be it a Wyld Goblin, an old Vampire, a Transcendant, a Minotaur, whatever-and SB assures me there's no way she can renege.

Confident in my chances of providing such a kill in the coming days, I go to sleep.

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 28th, 2011
PERSONAL FUNDS: $2,864,660.00
BUSINESS FUNDS: $1,394,984.00
CASH: $6,120.00
SHADOW PATIENCE: 90%
WINTER ENERGY: 160
SUMMER ENERGY: 50/50

Monday starts off with me needing to stick around the house to be on hand when Tesla gives Lyubov her job since I frankly want to see if I can get anything out of the guy. To this end-I need to entertain myself at home. While normally I would do so by introvertedly focusing on practice with magic in a haphazard fashion, today… I spend the day with my employees. I chum around, pal about and bullshit with one and all, and get a proper sense of what they're looking to do in the coming week. I find the morning of camaraderie far more rewarding than any time spent honing magic, no matter how SB may sigh. I can feel the deepened bonds with my followers-and that isn't to be trifled with. That, and cooking breakfast for everyone doesn't hurt either.

[MINION ORDERS: SKIP TO THE END OF THE PURPLE IF YOU DO NOT WISH TO READ]
Vlad:
-Clear all prior orders.
-Keep working with Tidus Atmor the gunsmith. Attempt to develop system of nonverbal communication with stoic man.
-Continue widening range of resistance.
--Query Hillevi for assistance with cold exposure, express gratitude with kind words and assorted vodka each time she assists.
--Find source of acid for corrosive exposure. ...Duke is helping!
--Get repeatedly electrocuted in some fashion for energy exposure by Titus, Lyubov and/or power outlets.
--Seek means of exposure to being blown up. Ask Sake to hit him with wind bombs. Regret choice immediately, but persist.
--Attempt to increase resistance to pain. Plan to recruit Grisha and Amen for this. Have "Fun™" and try not to rupture larynx.
-Continue developing new forms of vodka infusions. Attempt to secure small amount of magic blood and shave bits off a regenerator heart for use in new experimental healing vodka idea.
-Acquire a second giant mug and have Sake's name etched into the side, leave it out for the weasel as a present with a fresh bottle of meat vodka.
Zhenya
-Wonder how so much happened to you in the past week
-Enjoy new, yet unnamed, magic pistol and other gear
-Spend more time with Matvey
-Acclimatize to Ogre strength use so that you can operate at normal levels even with it on.
-Move out.
-Keep training in general.
-Go to the Arena with Matvey.
Lev
-Go to the Arena with matvey
-Talk to Matvey again about killing your father
-Work on ways to find mother
-Practice with knives
-Try and find interesting women and magical things in Italy.
-Have fun.
Ivan
*Have a one-sided conversation with Lyubov about souls after she catches a glimpse of herself in a memory of an internal noir monologue.
*Unsure of what to do with all the free time in the morning, try some meditation, using Hawk the rifle as a mental focus. Stoically stick with it all morning, just to fill up the empty hours. Feel just that much more comfortable with the old gun in your hands.
*On the way to Ito’s on Monday morning, buy a pair of polarised sunglasses [-$50] to reduce the impact of ultraviolet vision in the sunlight. Begin wearing them everywhere. Notice that this makes people-watching habits much harder for others to notice.
*Ask Ito if he needs some more help with Camella gone for a month. Be offered temporary increase in teaching duties for triple pay. Inwardly smirk at pittance, and offer to do it for free.
*When Armas isn't around to notice it, take the family's Mosin-Nagant out, unwrap it, and give it a good clean. Try and fail to get some of the stains out of the stock. After thinking about the rifle and the family back in Russia, write a letter to older brother Abram: let him know that the news, of death and treason, they’ve received is false.
*Notice the company's ammunition facilities sitting unused after Vlad has left for Italy and decide to waste some time making some custom ammo. Figure that silver bullets are used often enough in folklore to be useful, and buy some silver bullion to try melting down into bullets [-$3000 for a 100oz bar]. Read up on bullet-making techniques and try out the machinery with the newly-bought silver.
*On Thursday, head to Dávgon and ask for a soul quirk. At that point, gain 'SOUL EYE' trait (lv2), which lets his soul's natural shape grant him the ability to detect the presence of souls. It does not grant any soul makeup analysis abilities, just recognition of their general location.
Feodor
*Hand out gifts and receive gratitude from all except Sake who, through a series of unfortunate coincidences, repeatedly misses out on his gift.
*Spend Sunday night working on Ivanovich while the mannequin-man sings. After a strenuous weekend without Sake-healing, be put to sleep by such a lullaby. Hear from Lyubov later that Ivanovich was seen, singing and with a belly full of surgical tools, carrying a certain sleepy medic back to bed.
*Attend the psych appointment, let everything out to the man who can't reveal it: everything from the accidental cannibalism and the reaction to it from self and others to guilt over still not having found anything out about Alexei, not speaking to Mother for three years, and having let so many people die over the years. Schedule another appointment afterwards, then head to Rostislav's fight.
*On Wednesday morning, head into Mohammed's Discount pet shit and buy a Vampire Squid and a pressurised transport container for it for $14,000. Take it back to the mansion and gather Dávgon and Gianni, and spend the next few minutes taking part in a strange ritual that involves eating the squid alive, while it's wriggling and flopping tentacles all over the place. Use up most of the rest of the day having Gianni pull a fully formed and annoyed squid out until how to manifest the familiar clicks. Afterwards, make a deal with Gianni where he gets the use of Ivanovich for a project in return for teaching magical anatomy.
*During free time, practice a little with the squid's conferred abilities, especially the regeneration. Cut self and time the wounds healing, etc. When Sake-healing time arrives and Sake demands a piece of liver for his trouble, get curious. Climb on the operating table and cut a piece out for him while he watches. Sake treats it like a dinner show. Have a strange time sensing people's blood, and wonder how odd sensing Elder magic is going to be.
*Having spent the week finishing off M.A.P. cross-referencing, be prepared to use chakra at Finnigan's to lower the surgical workload a little. See how he reacts. Remember to take notes on patients and procedures, still. Find a new patient, who goes by 'Mrs. K', to be very interesting in the general strangeness of her maladies-like having her bones replaced with stone.
Rostislav
*Head to the Zosimus mansion with Titus for a guard mission, meeting the head Zosimus vamp; the charge, a teenaged girl; and the other two guards on the job: a German juggler in a Nazi uniform by the name of Armin and what looks like a tattooed zombie, that turns out to be a man named Radu Hagi. Chat with Titus and the others for the evening, stab Radu repeatedly with a memory-thief knife (receiving the wounds, and the memory loss that goes with them), and set up a shift rotation for the mostly silent girl.
*Using the first night off from the guard job, fight Adib at the late night Fight Club. Take a lot of damage during the fight, but win by stabbing the black guy in the eye with a chewed off finger. Learn after the fight, while Gianni's healing the two barely-conscious combatants, that Adib is a two thousand year old flesh golem. Spend the rest of the night drinking.
*After spending a shift and a half being cursed by Radu for fun, get bored and try reading an old journal from the guard room bookcase. Fail to see parallels between self and the magical-blooded golem-man hunted by vamps from the journal. Get bored and, tempting fate, ask Radu if anything's going to happen. What do you know, Radu replies with, “Well, there IS the gentleman mind-locking the vampires in the house while Zosimus and his fellow elders are out.” Follow Radu's lead, opening the door for the intruder, up to the point where Radu, slack-jawed and blank-eyed, is mind-locked himself. Try fighting the obviously dangerous intruder, and be thrown about, have limbs dislocated and arms flayed for the trouble. Eventually rage so hard that skinless arms tear themselves apart, becoming flailing bone-filled tentacles, whereupon the red-caped intruder remarks that a shoggoth is too much trouble and leaves. Spend the next ten minutes trying and failing to get a drink with extraordinarily damaging tentacle arms before passing out as Radu wakes up. Come to in time to give a report to the vampire elder, while Armin's Masterful Hands put tentacles back in place, and receive a pair of sizeable black diamonds as a bonus payment. Spend the rest of the shift talking to Radu about rituals and make a deal with Titus to buy some of his divine lightning gems [-$50k] to pay for curse ritual training.
*Wednesday night, for the off-shift, head to the mansion for a nice calming magic beer. Upon arriving, encounter an irregularly irate Big Crazy clutching an ragingly rabid wolverine. Become instantly gleeful. When BC demands more money for what was an obviously more difficult than he expected mission, offer him an extra $100,000 and swap him an armful of magic beer bottles [-8L magic beer, -$150k] for the wolverine. Note his immediately calmer disposition on drinking the beer. Race to Davgon to have him bind the wolverine, where he remarks that the beast requires an additional binding beforehand as it's essentially a living Hate Fragment, if a small one. It's still HIS hate fragment now.
*Trade a promise to Titus for his surplus lightning gems, then trade the gems to Radu Hagi for teaching. Spend the rest of the week's uneventful hours eating, drinking, and learning curse rituals from Radu. Remember to keep the blood production and blood iron charms on to speed the process of making the blood iron knife.
Titus:
-Do the guard job for the next two weeks. Hang out with Rosti and the other two guards, try not to get dead from either enemies or employer.
-Spend off-nights in forest talking with that lightning tree he Named. Continue finding her alien, but mostly nice.
-Spend free time building the mk.IV taser glove. Use the opalised wood for backing on the backs of the hands and knuckles. Opals for capacitor banks and the Lightning Ridge opal and twice-struck flash stone for primary supercapacitors. Raiju hide (2/4 remaining) outputs a constant charge to charge the capacitors and electrify the opalised wood. The usual nomex-P155-kevlar mix for the glove, possibly supplemented with the dryad-blood rubber if Titus doesn't need it for the wiring (it seems Tesla coils can be used for wireless electrical transmission; since Titus is sorta pals with Tesla's Witch Saint, it seems almost polite to use his technology). There'll be energy bleed-off, but with the rubber protecting Titus and the hefty (and free) energy output from the pelt, he ought to be all right.
>Bagga
>Considering the missions he has been on so far, it's obvious Bagga has much to learn. Try looking for a super natural boxing club to hone and test his boxing skills.
>Talk to Gianni about the body mods and enhancements. Look into some additional lessons about the body as well. He does seem to know a lot about it.
>Go shopping for gear! Some enhancements for the gauntlets would be good,along with some basic, multi purpose gear..
>With the gain of Igne(his pet cactus) ponder the thought of running a company herb garden that can focus on various healing and boosting plants. Probably will have to talk to the higher ups about this.
>Continue with the Ito lessons per usual and check up on his fellow orphan vamps. Just because he's working doesn't mean he should forget about them.
>Continue the vampire lessons. Try to learn some advanced techniques and find out a bit about the vampire scene. Can't skip on that.
>Prep for the Arena with Matvey, Zhenya, and the others.
>Finish ALL his missions!
LYUBOV WEEKLY GOALS
L*~Tesla’s job to break into an AORB outpost and fix their painfully inefficient divinitech generator takes priority... but how's she going to get in? Tesla' not introducing her...
L*~Daily Lessons in divine magic fundamentals with Sake as long as he is willing. Which stops about midway into the week.
L*~Make sure Svetlana is settling in well (drag her into interacting with people if required).
L*~As many lessons with Armas as time permits and as he is willing to give (divine-based flesh and soul magic demonstrations, essentially).
L*~Finish the Mk I Plasma Wing and work on a wearable MkII Plasma Wing ready for Sake.
L*~Visit the magic electronics shop, ask after local magic electronics clubs/associations, and buy parts required for the Mk II Plasma Wing (magic superconducting wire if available and affordable, magic rectifiers, quartz crystals, batteries, resistors, and other parts).
L*~Visit Placid at least three times during the course of the week, either alone or with Sake and/or Armas. Deliver his textbooks and talk to him about whatever strikes his fancy. It’s always intellectually engaging and fun talking with him. Show him the Mk I Plasma Wing!
L*~Talk to Hyougo at least three times this week. Be sure to hit topics like “how do you feel about witch saints? There's a new one in my city,” and “I’ve been working on a new project, look at this cool Plasma Wing thing!” and “I really pissed off my friend, what do you suggest I do to apologize?” Find Hyougo is dazzled by the Witch saint question, and doesn't comprehend caring what her friends think when it conflicts with her views-that... doesn't sound good.
L*~Apologize to Zhenya and Matvey for video recording their unfortunate incident with the gift to Duke. Turn the original video discs in to Matvey, have a good cry with Zhenya after explaining what a witch saint actually is in greater depth. Still not over the death memories thing…
L*~Talk to Andrei and Hillevi in depth about being a witch saint, ask what she’s heard of them, explain most of what is known in general, omitting only the details of the deal with Tesla. Agree to help Andrei with getting in contact with mortal hacker contacts who know magic hacking of mundane systems (in exchange for him owing her or Tesla a favor). Make it clear to Andrei that he’ll be expected to pay these people for his education, and suggest he ask Armas for a budget for it. Make the call to Tesla about it.
L*~Go out to the Leprechaun bar with Dávgon, Hillevi, Armas, possibly others for a few drinks, broach the idea of a betting parlor with Bonzi (simulcast video of arena fights, a secure interface with mortal banking systems, betting booths, first access and direct input in what would be a pilot program).
L*~If Bonzi likes the idea, and there are no issues that would scupper it, research companies that do electronic gambling (Quixant looks good, relatively low cost solutions with established secure protocols...). Plan on requesting a meeting with the Hobgoblin arena owners.
L*~Read up on wireless cave communication systems.
L*~Remind Armas that Dávgon needs a research budget for monster anatomy and divine magic.
L*~After the unfortunate incident with Sake, have a talk with Kuvey and resolve to be more mature and less meddlesome (except when the situation actually merits meddling, which really amounts a resolution to get more information before meddling).
L*~Look into a charm for Sake which will prevent the Punning issue from being catastrophic for him again.
L*~Get some Ferret Tubes for Sake. Those things are awesome to play in. ($200)
L*~Borrow Matvey’s bracer and really analyze it, figure out what is failing and what could be repaired. Make this a joint project with Armas. Practice possible solutions in the plasma container.
L*~Talk to Hillevi about spin ice monopoles and superconductors, with an eye toward using the everice spell matrix to make both of those products practical. Contact Furukawa Electric about their high temperature superconductors, and buy dysprosium titanate from a chemical supplier (500 grams for $1,400) for the spin ice project.
L*~In either case if Hillevi is reluctant, point out that a complete manufacturing process would probably be of value to her clan, if nothing else as a process that they can license to other ice manipulators who are interested in manufacturing products that will be in demand. Though what they do with it ultimately would be up to the clan head, he could probably be convinced it is valuable.
L*~Continue the research into Armas’s past as time permits.
Matvey Orders
/\/\-Hand Armas the report he asked for with full details on the trip, relevant news you've picked up, reports on other's ability gains, and compensation to the tune of 25% of your winnings ($386,125) for using several of the disposable charms and a promise to keep him personally informed of future arena ventures and your or other's use of company gear so that he can get a proper cut.
/\/\-Undergo concentration training to prepare your mind for using Conceptual magic at least once per day, finding a soundproof room or secluded spot away from prying eyes when possible.
/\/\-Witness Armas' hummingbird instructing Ohotnik in 'how to be a proper warrior' at breakfast, request that he allow you to watch and assist as you are Ohotnik's master and trainer. Suddenly be taken to a very odd void with only wind, the hummingbird, Ohotnik, the Nothern Night Soldier bioarmor, and yourself as occupants and participate in a bizarre exercise where the hummingbird educates Ohotnik with an obviously hummingbird inclined, but correct worldview, assisting and elaborating yourself when possible. Come out from subjective hours of training with breakfast still in progress.
/\/\-Meet a nice couple at the dog park who breed Kangals who inquire about Ohotnik (having been recently trained to disguise himself as one for ease of movement through cities). Have a pleasant chat with them and receive contact information and the offer to come and socialize Ohotnik with their young dogs.
/\/\-On the way back from the park see a very curious sight, a dog barking at Ohotnik in a way that somehow cowed him. After following the strange dog see it disappear into a tree. The bioarmor revealing after the fact it was likely a hound of the Erking and the tree was acting as a divine portal.
/\/\-At night classes find two strange men, both transcendents of different stripes than yourself challenging you to face them in the arenas because you defeated a woman they both wanted to face in your last match at SugarSkull's arena. They both offer the same challenge with the same stakes-Shuhadaku Zayin against their swords and one of their arms. Choose to face the transcendent body known as Samson Aegis in one month.
/\/\-Stay after that night, until even the other Russians and students who join in drinking after classes leave, and talk to Ito about a very disturbing thing you learned through Shuhadaku Zayin about his past in the military and things he was made to do in his service. Talk to him and ask his advice on how to stay sane and free in this life. Stumble back home in a drunken haze after one too many drinks are shared over the subject.
/\/\-Pass a note on to Armas regarding the Erking hound you spotted, a proposal for what to do with Iskander's rather unique aerial abilities, and a brief description of the challenge you accepted.
/\/\-Get Hillevi to carefully freeze the Northern Night Soldier bioarmor so that it gains greater defenses to cold and have Titus shock it with his latest iteration of glove for greater resistances to each respective attack type next molting
/\/\-Clear some time for a brief venture to SugarSkull's arena to acquire the additional funds needed hopefully for a house outside the city proper.
/\/\-Train in Dunter Footwork under Ricky and Lucy as they are available.
/\/\-Take a visit to Das Bones', the magical diner owned by a powerful golem that Bagga invited everyone to to celebrate your return home. Ask Das Bones for assistance and learn about the nature of conceptual cutting while washing dishes. Acquire permission to return and help around the kitchen for more pointers on conceptual cutting.
/\/\-Enter the armory and have Satai print off a couple orientations one for adhering to surfaces and one that repels you from them.
/\/\-Watch Rostislav's bout at the fight club, a very brutal affair. Assist in helping Rostislav and the other Russians get out of the aftermath okay and join in celebratory drinks with everyone afterwards.
/\/\-When the opportunities arise throughout the week go to Das Bones' at the usual lull periods for advice while assisting him with basic kitchen chores.
/\/\-Go with Zhenya to offer Duke a gift she purchased for him with her winnings only to have to suffer through an incident you would rather not mention to anyone. Ever. (It involves vomit. And laughter.)
/\/\-Spend more time with Zhenya afterwards and eventually ask her if she would like to come with you to live outside of the mansion and find she accepts. Tease her about the specifics of the house you've been spotting out for days after.
/\/\-Find Lyubov knocking on your door after the incident, offering up the tapes of it she and Andrei took. Be appreciative Lyubov decided not to do terrible things with the discs like she seemed so inclined and after she leaves feel less aggravated with her in general.
/\/\-Talk with Davgon likewise after the incident and fall into some much needed good cheer when he convinces you to laugh at yourself a little. Fall asleep that night knowing you have a good friend.
/\/\-Be visited by a Valkyrie late in the night with an offer to become an Einher, refuse and be surprised when a second, much different offer is made in a voice unmistakeably belonging to Odin himself for a future task he will give to you should you acquire Body Transcendance. The voice offered a token of advice for the future as it cut out and the Valkyrie disappeared.
/\/\-Talk to Armas in the morning, asking if he is willing to allow you to live outside of the mansion and have some vacation time in the next few days. Fight the uphill battle that is that of an officer trying to live off-site, offering $350,00 if he allows you to do so and gives you the vacation time. Regardless pay for the damages Ohotnik has recently caused to the house playing with Ohotnik that cost blood to repair ($19,000).
/\/\-If plans for moving out and a vacation go through give Armas the address of your new residence and provide contact information if it were already known to anyone who may need you. Provide select friends the address so that they may visit.
/\/\-Enjoy quality time with Zhenya and Ohotnik at the new place.
Iosef Orders
-Complete any missions asked of you.
-Go find things to do with your newly found muscles.
-Ask Ito if he has anything you could do now that Camella is gone and you have free time again, see if you can't test out your new muscles at rival gyms. What's this, a job breaking dojos? AWESOME!
-Ask Satai if you can get some copies of pages from the chakra book for orientations that help with the weird ritual things you do at Johan's shop.
-Continue making visits to mister Johan's shop to help him clear out his backlog of rituals so he'll teach you things.
-Invite Karma over to the mansion to hang out, not having paid attention to the time Camella mentioned the rules about guests, but also not know Karma was cleared the potential problem solves itself all without being thought about.
-Ask Karma about all that demon name, ritual magic, runing stuff mister Johan mentioned he accepted as payment.
-Call that one waitress from the ambulance mission.
-Now that Boris is gone all the delicious food is too, find this unacceptable and look for places you can eat out. Look for places that offer free food and glory for eating large meals, grin at what a deal you're getting every time and at your growing collection of awesome souvenir shirts.
Svetlana:
-Track down Armas and ask him how much he will be paying her. Find actually catching him to ask hellishly difficult. If you didn't know better, you'd say he's avoiding you! Then, at the end of the week, find a letter in her pocket detailing that she'll be making 5k a month.
-Ask about the risks and consequences of receiving language grafts. Ask for a graft of Turkish so she can do her job properly. Recieve one from a shadow. This.. is strange.
-Work with Satai on comic book job. Boringly complete job over the week.
-Handle purchasing legal, nonmagical, nonweapon goods for Satai.
-Attempt to fulfill the requests of her superiors quickly and efficiently. This takes priority over everything else, she needs to make a good impression after all.
-Make company letterhead that meets with Armas's approval. It's orange.
-Start gathering company records and copying them for the archive she will be maintaining. Roughly split the archive into financial, administrative, and field sections to start with. Ask superiors how they want access to the archive to be handled. Be told by Satai he wants exclusive access to the financial records. Wonder if this is a joke. Free access to company members, graduated access levels depending on position in the company, no access below officer level, or some other way?
-Set up and run a message centre for company use. Members of the company can leave messages with her for others and she'll make sure they get to them.
-Be available to take calls and messages for anyone who wants her to.
-Spend some time during the week with Cookie Lady, who Lyubov introduced her to before church on Sunday. Enjoy the company of someone normal. Make a mental note to get her name again, it isn't like her to forget.
-Lend a hand in the kitchen since Boris is in Italy. Avoid eating any magical food herself.
-Be open to suggestions on what other members of the company want her to do. They have a better idea of the needs of the company.
-Try to get to know her new coworkers and socialize.
Igor:
-Be happy that he's good enough at chakra to not have to worry about metabolizing magic anymore. Camella went to Italy so everyone is OBVIOUSLY in the clear, right?
-Be very excited about having a magical hammer to work with, but worry he isn't good enough to do it justice.
-Experiment with the hammer's effects to ensure future projects are as good as they can be.
-Work on any projects SB gives him to do with the hammer, in exchange for help and advice on other projects he uses the hammer for and information on shadows in general.
-Work on making smithing tools using the hammer. Hopefully tools that can interact with shadow/soul will afford him finer control over the final form of things he shapes with the hammer.
-Offer to make something for Ito, as way of thanks for the training he's provided. Mention he's got a magic hammer now but warn he's not very good yet. Promptly be asked by Ito to make him some new old-timey bumpers. That.. sounds simple, right?
-Tell Armas he's finished the golem's pair of gauntlets and he'll upgrade them with the hammer once he gets the hang of it. Offer to start working on armoring the rest of it, if Armas wants to pay him for it. Bluntly mention he wishes he had a way to see the soul/shadow planes for smithing with the new hammer. And more money. And metal, or he can't make the armour. Be told to get his ass a body-mod to see that shit from Placid. Be told it will be free. ...Find concept a bit unnerving.
-Begin smithing armour for himself. A set of Almain rivet, to be exact. Supposed to be relatively simple to construct. Perfect for a first attempt.
-If asked to do projects warn that he has somewhat busy with the projects he's working on already. If what they want done is for company use, tell them to go through Satai. If they want personal work done, tell them it isn't his magic hammer so they'll need company permission if they want magic gear.
-Get back to tinkering with his watches now that he has the time. It's been a while.
Andrei:
-Work towards developing remote control armored stationary turrets that can fit motors and mounts strong enough for miniguns. Install cameras, both regular and IR.
-Program tracking and facial recognition software for turrets for autonomy. Buy and cannibalize kinects for help and inspiration with sensors and body and facial recognition, look through other already available solutions as well.
-After these are done, work towards getting turrets mobile with some treads.
-Build three redundant IFF systems for company to avoid friendly fire with automated targeting: Buy cheap phones, alter them so that they query -> answer through bluetooth automatically, ask to spray paint a glyph on mission suits in IR reflective see-through shellack, and hook up an IR leds on suits on a separate system, set to light at query. Hand these out.
-Decide you want to magic up your specialty. Find Lyubov. Ask if Tesla would be willing to help him along the way of finding a teacher. Be told she'll ask.
-Decide to go after other venues for now. Go to The FUTURE Shop. Inquire after someone who could teach the magical side of hacking. Get told the name of a rather expensive group that can teach him personally, lessons to some measure of functional confidence would cost ~250k. For instructional material, he can get a collection of DVDs for 40k, or an actual book for 85k, and if he's looking for examples of magical hacking code to purchase and pick apart, each instance usually runs 5-15k.
-Go ahead and buy the book.
-Start learning magical hacking from book. Damn you book, stop keeping things back from him!
-Start making 3D map of Istanbul that would let him translate where the company is on the map and send data on enemy and friendly positions to helmet HUDs. Hook up a GPS, a transmitter and three 3D surface imagers on a large RC car, on pointing straight ahead, two pointing to the sides.
-Try to find Dmitrii to ask after a stealth charm for said RC car.
-Drive around in car when bored of reading and coding and no urgent tasks, always make sure to roll it back in the house. Shamelessly rip off Google Maps for pictures, driving around with a camera rig occasionally to see that it's accurate.
-Talk to Armas about compensation for editing work. Also ask whether he has ideas for venues of selling finished videos.
-Go to the psychiatrist once per week. Complain how living in murderous house and being surrounded by constant magical radiation makes him a dick and gives him cancer.
Satai Orders
$ - Complete assigned company jobs
$ - Murder a certain gargoyle in retribution
$ - Focus relentlessly on improving control and understanding of mindscape
$ - Attempt to learn to separate, recognize, and manipulate mental inputs
$ - Work on building useful mental constructs
$ - Discuss mind manipulation with potentially well-informed parties
$ - Examine others' minds if and when possible
$ - Seek additional sources of information on magic, particularly mind magic and rituals
$ - Read through all available written resources on magic-related topics
$ - Keep sniping; attempt more rapid target acquisition and precise shots
$ - Keep training with Hillevi, using new perceptions to improve chakra skill
$ - Seize opportunities for personal profit which present themselves
$ - Continue looking after Stacey
$ - Go out with Verusha and/or friends to magical night spots when possible; build contacts and enjoy self
$ - Take careful, measured steps toward resuming habitual magically-oriented promiscuity
Grisha Orders
G - Go to the Arena with Lev, and have fun!
G - Have some Fun™ with Vlad and Amen before leaving for Italy, since he asks so nicely~ Invite Anguisher.
G - Introduce Anguisher to Amen, get opinion. Amen likes him!
G - Go to Italy, bringing Anguisher and some motorcycles for planned biking adventures with Lev.
G - Study under Anguisher in the arts of pain and villainy!
G - Study on top of Lev in the arts of fun and Fun™!
G - Keep the town in line and take frequent day trips to really enjoy Italian life. Bring Sake when possible!
G - Don't neglect martial arts training- see if Camella will help since there's no more dojo to use.

I also must admit, seeing Go Ping there, meticulously assessing each practitioner's ability for the now clearly optional training, makes me happy-I haven't had a chance to talk to the guy for a while, and I've always thought of him as a pretty cool guy.

….WELL, that was a hell of an informative morning. By the time I'm done hearing from everyone, it's past lunchtime and I'm cooking again. That is-until Tesla calls. Long story short-I find I like the guy. He called Lyubov just long enough to give her a job then hung up before she could ask a single question-or I could try to talk with him. Further, the job's simple at face value but fraught with complications: Lyubov needs to get inside of what is supposed to be a SECRET AORB base in Istanbul, and… improve the efficiency of a woefully outdated divinitech generator within. I have to say, I like the science god's chutzpah.

While Lyubov's mulling the challenge over, I bring her with me to go spend an afternoon with Placid. He shows us both his progress with the souls I gave him-and rather impressive work, at that-and listens raptly as we tell him more stories. He is, as he consistently ends up, a wholly calming and pleasing entity to be around, and I find myself nearly regretful when we leave three hours later. Placid promises to have the souls ready for us by the next time we visit-and I get the feeling he might have felt a bit bad he didn't have them ready this time.

When I get back to the mansion, I explore the previously inconsiderable ability Hummingbird mentioned to me before… and finish unlocking the mobility boosts the bird can offer me. I now have to constantly regenerate to sustain it, but my body can be made to shift directions without regard for gravity-just like before-but at speeds wholly comparable to an actual hummingbird-and THAT is new. Couple this with Dunter step, and I can move fast enough I can rip a shoe apart on my foot just from the sheer force involved-it's rather impressive, and… means I might be looking at dodging bullets in the not-to-distant future. Which, I have to admit, would be cool as shit.

I'm four hours into acclimatizing to the ramped up performance-and frankly getting used to being able to accelerate to roughly fifty miles an hour in less than one step-when Matvey knocks on the door.

"Hey-come in."
The man in question does as told, walking over with a report in hand.
"That the report you mentioned this morning?"
>[Matvey]"That it is."
"And what about the receipt from Oyak?"
At that, the officer pauses.
>[Matvey]"…That… is for three things. One-I am paying you back for the blood expended repairing the house after Ohotnik's antics."
"Rather diligent of you. That's one. Next?"
>[Matvey]"…A quarter of my winnings from the arena, more than enough to cover the charms expended in the process."
"Two for two things I want to hear. What about the third?"
>[Matvey]"A request. I would like to move offsite and live in a house of my own. I have no intention of leaving your service, but I would feel more comfortable elsewhere and in a place where my pet does not cause regular harm to your holdings."
Well that's something-though as I recall, there were… noises… last night that sounded rather horrifically embarrassing.
>[SB]"I had my shade record the altercation"
Ah, excellent.
Well, since I've already snap-decided to let him what with how he brought it up, I play with him a bit.
"…'Feel more comfortable' huh? Is it Amen or the people you live with?"
>[Matvey]"Amen."
There's not even an iota of hesitation to him when he utters it.
"Okay. Hell, I got no problem with Titus' camping, I see no reason you can't do something just a step more involved. You do know that I'll fully expect you to haul ass if I need you promptly, right?"
>[Matvey]"Understood, but there is another thing."
"…Well, go on."
"I would like it if you would allow me some time off in the coming days. I could use some rest and time to dedicate myself to some personal issues and training. I would also like it if you'd allow Zhenya to accompany me, both to the new living site and in this vacation time."
"Zhenya? Sure, go for it. Though I have to ask: how much time off are you talking here?"
>[Matvey]"A week."
"Starting now?"
>[Matvey]"Tomorrow night if possible, I need time to move my things."
"And you're aware that if actual shit goes down I'm rescinding that faster than a kid'd castrate Chugainov, right?"
"Fully aware sir, you wouldn't even need to ask."
…Gotta love this approach, compared to Gloom. I smirk a bit as I give my confirmation.
"Sounds good, officer. And try to enjoy the down time."

Matvey nods as he leaves-leaving behind his report.

Matvey's Itemized Undersewer Report

The Path Down
1-------Encountered first instance of resistance in the form of a clutch of warrior-cast Sahuagin, a more powerful, but less intelligent variation of the sewer level creatures. The creature's toughened skin and hard muscle was able to resist firearms and grenades we threw at them. Places where the skin was thinnest were prime targets for melee and the creatures were willing to expose them if distracted by raw meat or disoriented by flashbangs-which proved incredibly effective. But by far the most helpful tool for removing the creatures were the demonic grenades, which killed half the clutch at once.
2-------The next instance of reportable encounters was the informally named Driver Pit, home to a Draconic-Elder weaponized mythic beast who was thankfully dormant as we skirted quickly and quietly along the far side of it's domain. A major hazard in the area and notable in that it apparently destroyed a large hobgoblin arena recently. Findings: Avoid at all costs.
3-------After the Driver we encountered a strange sight, a normal man toting a hefty anvil-shaped hammer all on his own. Contact was established, after nearly beginning a violent altercation due to misunderstandings, now cleared. His hammer was at all times accompanied by the sound of clattering chains echoed through the caves, despite there being none on the hammer itself. He identified himself as Fighting Fin the Einher. He was on route to a mission to cull the breeding magical population of the undersewers. The einher may request additional backup from Gleb in order to prevent the Driver from spawning.
4-------Further down the tunnels we encountered a rogue de-masked wyld goblin that was banging on walls on the opposite side of a giant chasm, presumably in frustration. It was half again as large as the Sahuagin encountered earlier, and attacked us in a blind rage when attempts to sneak around it failed. We were forced into conflict with it on a narrow ledge where it gripped solid stone walls to support itself and lunged at us to attack. Rostislav threw a demonic flashbang at the creature, but within range of myself, endangering me. My blade was able to absorb the blast by striking it and channeling it into the creature, causing its eyes to burst. The creature attempted to rise and attack multiple times after that but it's impressive durability eventually ran out. It died when the vertebrae in it's neck were fully separated. It is unknown whether it's seeming lack of intelligence and rage were a byproduct of it's masklessness or something else entirely.
5-------The battle with the Wyld Goblin destroyed our only path forward and forced us to use an alternate route down through the massive chasm, making replication of our journey excessively difficult. Ricky and Lucy were able to carry us down and ensure a gentle fall, and we landed at the bottom atop piles of bones.
6-------A creature called a Grue going the opposite direction confronted us. A vaguely humanoid mass as far as appearances go. I later learned such creatures are generally feared for their ability to control flesh and inclination towards the dark, being weakened by the sun. It let out telepathic spores to communicate with us and asked one question, where someone known as Hillel is, after responding we did not know this Hillel it moved on. The spores were later removed by the arena before I entered a match.
7-------While still in the chasm we were ambushed by several mutated masses which were once people gifted with bloodlines by Elders. They were hiding amidst the bones that carpeted the floors. At first they only manifested tentacle appendages which came up from the ground to attack us, seemingly endless in number. The others made noteworthy performances against the mass with both firearms and melee. As we steadily made progress through the tentacles the first central heart-like being producing them emerged. A grenade directed channeled into it by my sword was able to destroy the first heart, but several more popped from under the bones as the first died. I killed another in a similar fashion as we made our escape.
8-------The last barrier between us and the arena was a stream of magma populated by Magma Dwarves. As none of us could withstand the heat involved by even be near it Ricky and Lucy took us across themselves in exchange for the last of the meat supplies Feodor brought with him.

At the Arena
1-------At the entrance of the arena we were hailed by a man in heavy armor. He identified himself as Body, an Einher, and he was on break from several months of missions and was at the arena to unwind. After brief, but pleasant introductions we were offered his advice as a regular gladiator in the arena and I learned the following: It is ill advised to see the chairman Sugarskull, an eccentric candy golem, directly until getting in one exciting match. SugarSkull isn't the real power behind the arena, he acts as a puppet for the Greek ruling dragon who owns the primary stake. The arena offers conquest and submission matches. The levels of competition being Sport where even mundane humans could compete, Mortal for those with chakra, rituals, innate magic, or martial ability that take them above mundane humans, Blood for challenges a bloodliner or equivalent could be expected to deal with, Ascendant for who are as above bloodliners as bloodliners are mundanes in terms of power, and Legendary for dragon level competitors. The other aspect of the arena, the Meat Circus, was made from a fragment of Amen taken long ago and converted into a servant structure, reworked into being totally obedient. It serves as a one stop shop for food, entertainment, and gear in the arena. It creates everything to order, customized at the buyer's request and always of the highest quality, it's works being prized for their craftsmanship.
2-------I spent the better part of several hours competing in the arena, fighting in Blood Conquest matches, the first against a Valcor of the Ibruhem vampire clan who was clad in heavy organic armor festooned with gems, whose defeat cost me significant injury to my right arm. The second match was against a popular fighter known as the Buraboor, a bloodliner who was fitted in a more slim fitting suit of organic armor. The fight seemed to excite the crowd to no end, myself still having an injured arm and being a rookie against a favored fighter who flung tentacles at me in a perilous fashion resulting in the loss of all the charms I carried and leading to a climatic set of exchanges. The fight was enough to appease SugarSkull and Body took me to meet him after my fight. SugarSkull rewarded my match by giving me use of an instant transportation system to and from the arena for myself and potentially others, barring his desire to consume them on a whim, so just myself for now.
3-------After my fights Feodor and Rostislav parted ways with me, being given free use of an instant passage to the surface carrying the rest of the money, a one time perk. I was left to my devices and used my funds to purchase the bioarmor familiar I now wear and my dog before the returning to the Redcaps to fulfill the intent of my guide agreement with them and began making my return trip.

Return Trip Summary
1-------Leaving SugarSkull's a man dressed as a butler appeared from nowhere, bypassing all means of detection. It stated it was looking for a young girl named Hillel (Morning Star), last seen wearing 'questionable attire and a petrified butterfly hair clip'. I again said I did not and it promptly left, politely asking to for me to keep an eye out. Later reports indicated that this was an Elder golem and that after it left us it encountered the Grue outside of the arena and the two fought, barring many from entering or leaving. Due to the level of entities involved it may be in the company's interest to investigate the matter further so that we might either avoid the conflict or if within our capacity make preparations to capitalize on it.
2-------A Traveler, an Acolyte of the Fourth Horseman, was spotted from afar, appearing to move towards SugarSkull's Arena. We avoided the entity entirely, later reports on the incident confirmed he was not there to join in the fight between the Grue and Elder golem, but as an entrant into Legendary Conquest bouts, supposedly very exciting to watch. Footage may be available.
3-----Now having resistances to the heat of the magma stream Ricky and Lucy asked that I slay some of the local Magma Dwarves. I attempted to kill several of the ones on the outskirts of their settlement, but eventually they roused a militia armed with magic arms and armor. Their defensive measures were impressive but eventually the defenders crumbled. I sustained extensive injuries during the battle due to a magical device they had which negated the defensive value of my bioarmor. We were blocked from returning to the arena by the previously mentioned conflict between the Grue and the Elder Golem, but I was able to continue onward.
4-------The path back through the chasm was unremarkable for the most part, a large structure I hadn't seen before served as an exceptionally long staircase back to the ledges above. From afar we could see a figure, a man in traditional knight's armor riding a motorcycle up the sheer wall of the chasm vertically. He approached us on the top and inquired about my injuries, after he was sure I was fine we chatted and I acquired contact information before he continued on to the arena.
5-------In the next series of caves a large, flaming wooden puppet tried to attack us but it's fire had no effect on anyone present, Ricky and Lucy having disappeared at the sight of potential conflict as per usual. When it seemed to realize it was incapable of damaging us with it's flames it left and we continued.
6-------Having to take an alternative path back up we moved until we reached an underground city. It was exceptionally large and well maintained. A man clad in golden armor and accompanied by crows antagonized us as we entered, asking us to leave before it attacked us, forcing me to retreat through the city itself as he attacked using multiple magic blades, crows, and even parts of the city. At the exit he finally caught up with me and levied multiple strikes at me, but the Redcaps provided last second assistance and I was able to move beyond a barrier point, where it seemed the man could no longer follow. We promptly left.
7-------A Crow Corpse Knight of Gilgamesh's, patterned after Enkidu blocked a bridge we had crossed going down. We were unable to determine what the creature's orders were and without knowing them we couldn't safely cross the bridge without risking activating it and instigating another fight. With that path blocked we were forced to take a detour to find another entrance to the sewers. Ricky offered one solution, a passageway owned by the Leprechaun Bonzi, who I had at that point not yet been introduced to. The passageway was a hidden well leading down into a small cave with a door to his bar. After knocking we found that he had long since transformed into his Glurichaun night shape and has a notable separation of memories between forms, forcing me to wait until he changed back.
8-------While waiting a Reaper agent came upon me, questioning me about an AORB agent that was killed near SugarSkull's arena. I complied with his requests, recognizing both the risk this could pose to us if TitanCorp were to learn we fought and being too injured at this point to put up a fight. He fired several nonlethal shots with his rifle at me as he questioned, but when he came to the conclusion I was not involved he left me to my injuries.
9-------Eventually Bonzi opened his door after I paid the toll of blood required (having been assured they simply use it as a safely rendered foodstuff that cannot be used to hamper us). In the future I would recommend introducing any and all important figures in the company to such contacts and in the case of Bonzi establishing relations with both his forms to ensure he is useful to us at all hours.
10-------I used to sewers to walk home and restore myself, the Sometimes Merchant having intercepted me on the way to tell me that he had a contract to discuss with you in person. I was then rerouted to the scouting mission and so ended my trek.

Contacts

Gianni Contacts: (I retrieved these for you after noticing they were owed to us for assistance lent to the mafia. As a note the various vendors haggling styles and inclinations were not given, as the mafia has elected to inform all of these contacts of us in such a way that they would be the ones to adjust to our own needs, preferential treatment in short.)
1---Juliano - Supplies illegal mundane weaponry of the firey or explosive variety, of note are the two Davy Crockett's he has in stasis.
2---Delgoro - Chemical concoctions, namely potions, poisons, and gasses.
3---Franco Senior - Supplier of fleshcrafting materials, the goods are potentially disturbing to any uninitiated fleshcrafting in action, redistribute the contact with care.
4---Galileo - Magical weapons vendor specializing in knives.
5---The Greek - Runs a shop that sells stolen, repurposed, and retooled vehicles of the magical persuasion, like demonic sport car engines or kirin motorcycles. Has connections to vehicle companies in Azerbaijan with useful skills.
6---Gregory - Can put us in contact with out of luck immigrants. Located on the docks and only available at night.

Undersewer:
1---'Fighting Fin' of Mac'O'Rory clan - Mortal Scottish Einher, and worker of bone. The only means of available contact is through other Einher. He could be very useful if you want to make use of the bones from that large creature we killed by the water.
2---Bike Knight - A bike riding knight who would be interested in purchasing the excess custom bikes we have in the mansion. He also provides lessons assuming the students are willing to provide him drinks and fun.
3---Meat Circus - An entity derived from a portion of Amen, taken by a prior owner and wiped, rebound, and repurposed into being an obedient structure which serves as an all purpose stop for arena goers, using fallen gladiators as material. All purchases are made to order, custom workings of a distinctly organic origin. What can be imagined can be purchased-for a price. The service typically deals in gold or barter and has discounts for arena competitors.

Personnel Report

Andrei: Andrei is growing increasingly mentally unstable for some unknown reason, but not in any way that seems to negatively effect him. If anything, he's programming more effectively.
Camella: Camella's soul is showing signs of draconic influence, altering her magic and increasing her overall magic content. She is not aware of this and I have yet to make mention of this to her and am awaiting your call on this.
Grisha: Grisha has recently undergone moderate body modification through Gianni to increase her physical beauty and reflexes. While her inclinations towards causing pain and suffering in others is well noted, she has recently been exploring magical means of furthering her knowledge in the field. It would be wise to disallow her continued access to Amen, although the damage may already be done, care should be taken to find out if this has had any ill effects on her that she herself has yet to notice or that may jeopardize the company.
Feodor: Feodor purchased a magical surgical golem to further his medical skill and has been seen loaning it to Gianni occasionally. He is currently in the process of gathering a squid spirit animal from what I gather and is taking great care with the process.
Iosef: Has made contact with Johan and is currently working to help clear a backlog of experimental rituals for him in exchange for lessons from the demonologist. A call to Johan has revealed that Iosef seems to be naturally inclined towards such rituals and has taken at least three of them without any side effects. He has been made more powerful, quick, enduring, and resistant to harm as a result of them and may be minorly demonically inclined now. He has been verified and registered with the Church via Karma.
Ivan: Acquired a singular body modification for his eyes, otherwise nothing of note. Addendum: He and Igor spent roughly four hours talking about something, but neither will say what.
Lev: Asked me for help recently, wanting to know about his heirloom sword and his past, recent trips to the Hobgoblin arena having made him suspicious of monstrous taint in his background. The sword appeared to never have been a sword at all, but a magic gate to a demiplane. The Redcaps were brought on to assist and after looking over Lev's dried blood they were able to determine the construct was Hag in origin and Lev has dormant Hag lineage. A method to awaken his blood was procured at no cost to the company, allowing us to enter the demiplane. A brief expedition was made, the terrain seems inhospitable to non Hags but I was able to continue on with my bioarmor. The singular structure visible proved to be the home of Lev's father, a full Hag who sat atop an orgy while other Hags, similar to Lev in appearance fought below him. We attempted to leave after Lev asked him several questions, he attempted to lock us down but the gate sword allowed us to escape. Lev has expressed interest in returning to kill his father, any further expeditions will require overwhelming magic to breach active defenses from Lev's father however.
Rostislav: He has acquired multiple graftings from the Meat Circus. He is significantly more physically potent, now eight times as strong as a normal man and three times as fast after a grafting of composite flesh golem muscle. This coupled with his newly acquired regeneration and more durable bones make him a suited towards deploying heavy weapon very easily or as a direct melee combatant should the situation warrant it. It has also become apparent that while his new form is looks no different for all intents and purposes he engenders an effect on any humans that see him making them fear his presence.
Vlad: Elected to take multiple body modifications from Gianni up to the threshold of what a human body may handle. He is significantly stronger and larger than he was before, his increased size is now nearing the threshold for believability and he may require a magical guise to move in town without drawing undue attention. He is of a scale with the Nazinauts, armor included.
Titus: Starting to breach into the field of magitech-or divinitech. Still not sure. He has acquired a contact in the form of an entity made from divine lightening, but trapped within the shell of a dryad within a hidden grove. The positive relations he's established with that contact have proven lucrative and Titus has a small supply of divinely charged gems at his disposal.
Zhenya: Has used her arena winnings to purchase magical arms and armor from the arena. She can now be relied upon to provide charges of all seasonal energy through her new pistol and otherwise prove a incredibly strong, exceeding the strength of an ogre.

Misc

Iskander-I have identified Iskander as having a very unique natural aptitude towards aerial maneuvers, similar to that I noted of Hummingbird in our bout. He may be able to adapt aerial maneuvers and lessons of the Hummingbird to the human form as best as a human is capable of and could be an ideal middle man in honing a human style based from them. I have not revealed any sensitive information to him, but he seems eager to expand his skills. He seems very malleable and as such what you could request of him seems nigh infinite, but having him adapt the style for us and become available upon request to reteach it or otherwise redistribute it seems suitable. Taking him into the fold is also possible, but not recommended given his father seems connected enough to bring the orphans into Ito's at his request.
Psychologist-There have been questions raised as to how discreet the dragon bound psychologist actually is and whether or not he can be trusted for our continued use. Several company members are making appointments to him already and may be at risk if the fears I've heard are correct. My sword assures me 'Problem Talkers' that are draconically bound are historically dependable-I do not know if this can be assumed to still be true, given how out of date my sword's knowledge is.

I chuckle as I read through the report-Matvey clearly made an effort to refrain from the stodgy formality normally expected in such documents-and I appreciate it. It makes for solid evening reading, and it occupies my focus as I drift through the house towards my room. While I read it, I fixate on the Arena-and it's Meat Circus. Frankly, it sounds like a place I would love-and I find my impulse for decisive action urging me to take a jaunt down there myself… with as much of the company as audience/betters as possible.
>"Question: what powers would you use?"
That, I find to be a thoroughly EXCELLENT question, and devote myself to it, and the underlying question of what I keep hidden and what I reveal.

>It’s true that you just don’t have enough ways to close the skill gap yet between yourself and people like Hillevi and Duke, who have both been fighting and training for literal years.
I know that. I really want to find ways to close the gap though. It’s obvious that I need ways to close the gap, if I want to be able to compete and keep myself alive. My personal skill doesn’t match my available power.
>Why not start by looking at tricks that are unique to you? Your hybrid healing ability, for instance, merits closer examination. If the underlying principles could be harnessed to power other forms of magic, you’d have an instant edge.
It’s something I’ve thought about more than once-and now that the ever-wary SB is encouraging it… well…
Yeah. I think I’ll do just that. I just need to stab myself so I can use hybrid healing.

I find a non-magic combat knife in the armory, one of a couple dozen originally issued to the Russians by the Black Army, and I head up to my room.

Lyubov’s been in here; she left a bunch of printouts and loose notes on the bed. I glance at the paperwork casually before deciding that whatever she’s been up to, it involves way too much math and engineering bullshit and talk about magnetic fields for my taste.
>She’s got a nearly complete electrical and computer engineering degree from U.C. San Diego. Her ‘other self’ enrolled in their five year masters’ degree program.
Well. Good for her. Hopefully I won’t get any blood on her paperwork.
I take my shirt off and turn my attention inward, focusing on how my body naturally reacts when I’m not trying to suppress my hybrid healing. I slam the knife into my gut. The pain is certainly there, and even though I can largely ignore it, the very act of plunging the knife into myself distracts me just enough from my self study that I miss whatever it was that allowed the hybrid healing to work. …Irritating.

>I still find it frustratingly difficult to observe. I always have, as has Einrik. There’s obviously an obfuscating factor to the magic itself. I think you may be the only person who even can tell how it works.
Well I obviously can’t watch myself and stab myself.

At that moment Lyubov returns to the room. She smiles at me, an easy, comfortable air to her electric soul.

AN IDEA STRIKES!
“Hey Lyubov, here.”
I lazily loft the knife into her hand, and she instantly looks confused as her hands dart to catch it by the handle.
[Lyubov]“Um. What’s this for?”
“Can you stab me with it?”
Her body language, and her soul, immediately change, becoming slightly uncomfortable and alarmed.
[Lyubov]“What?”
“Just stab me with it. Anywhere’s fine.”
Her mouth, for a ephemeral moment, opens and closes wordlessly as she processes what I’m saying.
[Lyubov]“Is. Um. Is this for a ritual or something? What’s it supposed to do? I mean, I know you can heal from a normal knife wound like, instantly so it’s got to be a ritual or research- or is there a reason you want to do this in the bedroom?”
Inwardly I chuckle at her implying I might be getting off on being stabbed. Though I do note she looks like she’s not rejecting even that silly notion out of hand.
“I’m just testing an idea. If I’m not totally looking inward I’ll probably miss what I’m looking for, and I’ll need to be wounded again to try to see.”
She stares at the knife for a moment, and then looks back at me, obviously torn. Hummingbird lands on my shoulder to impart some of his regal wisdom on me.
>[Hummingbird]”One can hardly fault her for not wanting to harm her mate.”

I put on my best puppy dog eyes expression, earnest and shameless begging. I even touch up my Soul Guise to not only appear spiritually stabbable (man I love memetic effects), but to also add as much weight to my flagrant pleading looks as possible.
“Why won’t you stab me, Lyubie?”
>Lyubie?
Oh come on, you have to have heard Sake calling her that.
>I wouldn’t know what your upjumped spirit animal calls her.
Still not getting along then.
I suppress my sigh at my brother’s conflict as Lyubov’s soul comes to a decision: Apparently that did it. She nods seriously, and I can see in her soul that she was touched by the impromptu pet name.
[Lyubov]“So. Fine. But if it is something so delicate, you should let me see your soul too. I may notice it if you miss it.”
>I don’t think she’ll see the hybrid healing mechanism, but it certainly can’t hurt to give her a shot at it. You’ve already trusted her with far greater secrets and she’s proven remarkably loyal to you.
I can’t fault the logic of having another set of trustworthy eyes on the event. I comply with her request, and I drop my guise for her. She’s seen everything else to me there is to see, so why not?

Her eyes betray her surprise at my ridiculously complicated soul. Between my eye-twistingly tesseracted-connection to Shadowbro, my energy-laden dual-pathed Gate to Hummingbird, the overflowing pathway to Sake’s tri-part soul there’s quite a bit of external noise and ambient motion around my spirit. Coupled with how my divine-flecked cannibal stained spirit is built on a skeleton of soul-scars, the way my oversized chakra gates and my soul’s constant drawing of power through its Conceptual bind adds even more noise to it, and how the standard structures on a soul are more or less placed at random on mine, and my soul is frankly a confusing mess to look at in the best of times.
>If she still had a human mind I’d be worried about your soul’s structure hurting her, but as it stands she’s capable of looking without risk.
She doesn’t have a human mind now? Is that because she’s got that Gate of Self thing going on?
>That, and some very minor modifications Tesla put into place when his lightning bolt passed through her crown chakra, intended to help keep her sane. Shunts so she can look at things people normally would be brain damaged by, like her own conduit, or our soul. Now, pay attention to yourself.
Lyubov has taken a stance and has the knife ready, her soul steeled against the urge to not stab me. I guess she likes me enough that this is a little harder for her than I thought. I’ll have to make that up to her somehow I guess-
>[Hummingbird]”Focus.”
As Hummingbird imposes his mental help on me, I look inward, keeping a very close eye on how energy between my two bloodlines is flowing. Lyubov lunges forward, and just as the knife tip touches my skin, I enter accelerated thought courtesy of Shadowbro. With him and Lyubov handling everything else, and Hummingbird helping, I’m free to watch what happens.

What happens is pretty amazing. Energy from both my bloodlines starts to gather near the wound as soon as the knife pierces my skin. Proportionately more energy is added as it starts to pierce the fatty tissues and penetrate the underlying muscles on my abdomen. I am only vaguely aware of the knife snicking against a rib initially as it pierces my right lung. A spell matrix forms-no, it grows like a living thing all around the wound, its primary purpose to redirect all the ambient magic energy available in that specific region into a secondary matrix that starts to form just as the knife finally lodges in my rib, stuck right at the hilt. The two spell matrices, clearly composed of differing energies, manage to overlap like a set of doubled images without ever seeming to touch. At the beginning, at least.

The gathered summer and winter energy begins to, for lack of a better term, spray like droplets of energy.
>Discrete packets, or possibly quanta of energy? I’ve noticed there are certain patterns to how loose energy coalesces. And I’m viewing this from your memory, I still can’t make any detection progress on my own.
As the summer and winter energy-imbued spell matrices begin to interact in what should be a catastrophic explosion of flesh and magic, instead the tiny amounts of explosive energy (devoid of any trace of court energy thanks to the violent reaction), are caught by… something. It’s not a spell matrice-I’d see it if it was-but… it’s as if there’s the… shadow? A spell matrices mirage, hidden atwixt the two opposed spell matrices encircling the wound. The ‘mirage’ matrix soaks in every iota of power sprayed out by the Winter and Summer matrices, and uses the (in aggregate) massive amount of energy to power a regeneration effect I’m having trouble even seeing thanks to how complete the energy scavenging matrix is. …Hadn’t really noticed the effect was so pervasive in it’s localized magic drain, given the short timeframe it operates on and its automated function.

Curiously, the mirage spell matrix, despite sucking it’s surroundings and encircling spell matrices dry, doesn’t bloat-instead, it funnels all the newly court-neutral energy into my flesh, healing me even as the knife’s still in my body.

Lyubov pulls the knife free, the wound healing as quick as the blade is withdrawn thanks to my hybrid healing ability. I smile at her. A normal smile, the sort I’ve noticed I tend to save for her.
>This is intensely fascinating. No wonder it’s so hard to tell what’s going on from the outside, it’s like a miniature internal conduit in terms of energy efficiency.
>[IT]”Can’t he just say you built a temporary chakra between two spell matrices? Because that’s what you did…eh.”
>[Hummingbird]”Indeed, but Sir Giant’s observations grant little insight into the way the regeneration itself works, only in the way the safe conversion of energy occurs.”
>Given that that is a valuable trick all by itself, I think we made good progress today. Unfortunately, even if we can’t see how the transient regeneration spell matrix is set up, it’s obvious just by how much energy it requires that it is a very inefficient design. It’s like the power scavenging function and the regeneration function were designed by different people, or evolved out of different lines of research. They fit together-just not as well as they should.
That could well be what happened. I think if I worked on it, I could switch out the existing regeneration matrix and put in something more efficient. I just need to know how to use non-court energy to power it. Also-isn’t this like building a chakra just for the purposes of healing the wound?
>…It is. Granted, it is less like a human chakra than, say, a Shadowfiend’s or an Angel’s… curious. Which means it’s time to do outside research.
Well, got a starting point, at least.

As the entire conversation took place in accelerated thought, I didn’t make Lyubov wait more than a few seconds for me to actually say anything.
“Hey, perfect. Thanks Lyubie.”
She smiles back at me, obviously shaking off the discomfort from doing something that felt wrong to her.
[Lyubov]"I really am curious about what that helped you with."
"Well... I finally caught part of the whole 'oh this magic trick turns a rule of magic inside out and makes it your bitch' thing that makes my fastest healing work. And... I... need to do more research-but not on myself. Need to see more high-tier regen in action."
[Lyubov]"So... the simplest thing I can think of would be to watch arena matches, I guess. Not the little arena Lev's been going to, the big one Matvey went for. And maybe Owner's Arena? Matvey got an invitation or something to it, too. He warned me the map required Conceptual magic, so yeah, I'm not ready to even visit that one as a spectator."
"Conceptually eh? I could probably go."
>Ah, the ‘wonders’ of being able to ignore degrading spirit and brain damage thanks to pervasive auto-healing.
[Lyubov]"Ask him to show you the coin for Owner's Arena then. He said he has a fight there in a month. A duel because he fought someone that some Transcendent people wanted to fight, and they figure he would be fun since he beat the woman they wanted to kill."
"Hm. Yeah, I might have to go to the arena... when I finally figure out how I want to fight. Bit too many options. And too many things I should probably not show off in an arena."
[Lyubov] “Do you need a rifle to stand in for Silja now?”
"Eh, not really. I... kinda like the idea of Iron Trick and the mere. Melee and ranged artifacts, dual-wielded: What alternative am I gonna find to trump that?"
Lyubov’s soul flickers in confusion.
[Lyubov] “I don’t even know what Iron Trick can do. How come you- uh. What?”
Lyubov looks really confused mid-sentence and I’m momentarily glad I set Iron Trick on the dresser with my shirt. I’m sure he’d have had some snarky comment about his innate ability to be hard to remember.
>Try writing it on a note for her, so she doesn’t forget again.
I grab one of Lyubov’s notepads, tear a strip from a blank page, and write on it: 'Iron Trick: Armas' Buntline: Artifact, can't remember past that.' Then I hand it to her, and she reads it.
"Is that sticking, there? And seriously, don't ask questions about the artifact if you want it to take root."
She nods clearly suppressing a few thousand no doubt bubbly questions, and says nothing else about the gun.
"Right-so, anyway, two artifacts, each one handed-I think I'm set on that. My question’s really what do I do? I mean, I... have options, but few of them are ones I feel okay with throwing about in public."
[Lyubov]"What do you feel is ok to use in public? That's the starting point, figure out the building blocks first."
I grunt as I start ticking off things.
"Well, Self Soul Binding's definitely okay-and makes my external binding for Rocco seem less noteworthy since it's not indicative of pure external ability. But... I don't know how to lift bindings- which I have to assume is somehow possible, hard or not. And I can't show off binding editing. So functionally, that's out. I can use my lower ability regeneration, the one that's not hybrid, but that just keeps me going. And I can't show off soul guises, really."

I tap my chin.
>Your poison should be completely fine.
It’s sort of a surprise, being reminded about the doonongeas poison glands Gianni installed in me, and I can’t help but exclaim about it.
“OH RIGHT, THE POISON!"
>Very smooth.
Lyubov’s grinning at me, obviously as amused as Shadowbro is. I keep on trucking.
"Man, I keep forgetting I have that. So that's healing and contact harm covered, okay... what else? I just can't get enough of HB's soul bubble trick- and there’s no reason to hide it."
[Lyubov]"Hummingbird wouldn't even want to be hidden."
"No doubt."
The bird in question preens at the looks he gets.
>[Hummingbird]”The female giant has some measure of understanding of my splendor.”
[Lyubov]“Um. What are you doing with the bugs? Dávgon's bugs. In the jars?"
"Now there's something. The Kudoku bugs. I've got to have a couple hundred by now just from how many jars are producing. But those are really discreet assassination tools as-is, rather than duel-viable, you know? They need a bunch more work to be ready for active combat like that. Or to have been completely reworked."
She shrugs at that, obviously trusting that I know the state of the bugs well enough to know what I’m talking about. Which I totally do.
“Do you think I should do the swarm? ...I never even told you about that, did I."
[Lyubov] “Swarm? No, I don't remember anything about that. Is it new?"
"The Hummingbird here can, well, turn me into a swarm of hummingbirds. All of which are me- so I'm still totally fine while even one's around. The Hummingbird himself included. It's why I was okay with Hillevi doing soul damage last night. With more than one body around, her damaging one, no matter how bad, is just damaging a node in a decentralized system."

I put up a fist, and Hummingbird instinctively knows what I intend. He bumps his talons against my knuckles. It’s a bird-brofist. Which is fucking awesome.

[Lyubov]"Wow. So he just. Converts your entire body to a flock? But. There must be thousands of birds!"
I have a shiteating Smile as I respond to her.
"Five thousand and change, yes."
[Lyubov]"That's got to be really weird."
“You have no idea-I get all that sensory feedback. Still need Hummingbird to handle pretty much everything in that form."
The bird looks so smug. There are no words for his smugitude at how effective and amazing his new trick is.
[Lyubov]"Right. That's... yeah, I guess it'd be really good in an arena. Just don't get hit by a fireball or something right? Are they all as strong as Hummingbird is?"
“Sort of-they have the oomph, but even he can't manipulate all those bodies as well as he can just his own. What the swarm can do... is disperse. He is, after all, controlling them, so-"
>[Hummingbird]”Even I have yet to master having each member of the flock fly an independent flight path. But it is possible for me to have them fly in formation, and then move groups around as I please.”
"-Okay, so apparently he couldn't, say, have each one go on a wholly independent flight path, but he can handle at least a goodly number of groups."
[Lyubov]“Squadrons of hummingbirds that can spiral through armor. Is he handling everything they do himself, or can he program them?"
>We talked about that actually.
>[Hummingbird]”Turning them into automatons completely defeats the purpose of using them in a battle. Combat should be a test of a warrior’s skill, not his ability to collect and create mindless drones!”
[Lyubov]"Because if he's just doing everything manually, programming could free-
"He insists that would be cheating."
[Lyubov]-ooh. Huh. Could he do a partial swarm instead of completely turning you into birds? How many can he make and have full precise control over?"
"Still working that out. Especially because SOMEONE doesn't want help working out the system to full mastery before telling us 'oafish giants', just so they can retain their position of superiority!"

Hummingbird clicks his beak at me, and puts some real force behind it. It is far more audible than it should be.

[Lyubov]"Ok. So you have Hummingbird's momentum tricks, the swarm work in progress, the soul bubble, and the thing he does where he bores through stuff. You have your poison. Hummingbird can deliver the poison too, right? Like, couldn't he have all the swarm put it on their beaks?"
"Naw, it's in my body-the, uh, Armas Body option here."
[Lyubov]"Couldn't you make some and coat them in it as they're being made?"
It’s a slow torture for me to admit this, but…
"They... aren't... immune to it. It's a problem, I know. But it's hell to get around."
[Lyubov]"Oh. Uh. How long can they last against it?"
“Yeah, already asked HB about that- I'm still warming him up to the idea of suicide bombing.”
[Lyubov]"So that's Hummingbird's main suite of abilities, all of which sound pretty cool for an arena battle. And you can go into the fight with a bind, you just don't want to show off yourself editing binds. But it could be done between fights, right?"
"There's a few problems there. For one, I need to keep the bind as-is to benefit from its Conceptual nature. Long story there, I’ll get into it another time. And, more importantly, it's more or less why Hummingbird can do the swarm."
[Lyubov]"That's one problem. What are the others?"
"For another, if I throw on more bindings, I couldn't change them, because having them edited at all is tipping my hand that one way or another I can make that happen. And of course, there's the whole 'I don't know how to remove bindings, and each binding added slows soul capacity growth."
[Lyubov]“I guess I didn't quite realize how big a deal being able to edit bindings is. The other two reasons are understandable, but if you believe you should hide that you even know anyone who can do it to you... yeah. Ok, so you go in with the one bind. You have your artifact gun, which I leave entirely to you to judge how to use. But your mere, it requires getting up close. It can block Matvey's sword, and it has that heart thing going. Does it work against anything with a heart? If it does, how is your, uh, monster anatomy?"
"My monster anatomy is... lacking. On the plus side if it's got a heart, and I stick this in said heart…”
I affect a patently fake Russian accent (as we’re speaking English).
“…well then I am their very own Bad News Bears."
She smiles at that bit of levity.
[Lyubov]"It is an ability you don't mind showing off in the arena, right? It is a good way to quickly end a fight. As long as you can get close and know where to strike. So we need anatomy books or corpses to dissect or something to learn. But Dávgon was asking about a research budget anyway, for divines at least, and I think it is a good idea too. Not just divine subjects, although it's useful, but all monsters we could meet."
It’s hard to argue with that. Especially since she keeps talking.
[Lyubov]"So getting close is not a problem against many foes because you have those footwork tricks you learned from the goblins, and the other sort of footwork that Matvey also knows now, from Ricky, I guess? He mentioned them, and what you do and he do seems very similar.”
>I wondered if she would notice that.
[Lyubov]"Anyway you need something that will let you close the gap against enemies who can match all that. Have you experimented much with soul bubbles? It offers resistance to blows, so could it be shaped to push you along in unexpected ways? Like pushing a beach ball hard into the ground and it bounces away, sort of."
>Interesting idea.
"Hm. Frankly, so far soul bubbles has been Hummingbird's territory, as to make a soul bubble of any substance it needs to be stupidly precise in how it's maintained-otherwise, it just unravels when tapped. But... recoil, that I think, Hummingbird could-“
>[Hummingbird]”Tell the female that I can indeed use the soul bubble to rapidly shift you around. It is trivial to force it to intersect and rebound against surfaces”
“-yes, HB could do that.”
>[Hummingbird]”In fact it almost not worth mentioning that I can do it. Such a simple task should be assumed to be within the repertoire of the pinnacle of birdkind and-“
“...Yes Hummingbird, I know you are the pinnacle of all that a hummingbird could be. My only concern though, is Duke, Hillevi? Both of them blew through it, and neither of them is, in the grand scheme of things, that strong. Placid and the like are definitely beyond them, and no doubt could crush the bubble too."
[Lyubov]“So are they just powering through it, or using a combination of techniques to weaken it first and then push through? If they are weakening it first, maybe there is a way to design ablative patches that prevent the strongest part of the bubble from being weakened at all. Or maybe there are ways to conceptually harden the bubble. Or, you could even give the bubble technique an actual Name to help improve it. You haven't done that right? Or have you and you just kept it secret?"
“No, no Name. The issue is frankly their superior expertise lets them circumvent my higher regen.... it's like me having a factory that churns out hammers, while they have master-crafted, overly durable ones that can smash any hammer I throw at them. Really, it makes sense given both have immensely more experience with their powers than I do."
[Lyubov]"So you have outrageous regeneration of your power, and you can spam it all you want, but you cannot muster the precision you need. Do you have anything that would let you store even more power, so that even if you cannot make higher quality hammers yet, you can make really big ones? Battery charms or something?"
“I've thought about those, but then the problem is how do I keep some other fucker from using the battery charm? It's really irritating trying to plan for fighting heavyweights, I have to say."
[Lyubov]"Maybe the same answer as with your mere and your poison glands and your other major things? Make the storage charm a part of you somehow? Actually, if you had like a one-use charm that was somehow grafted to you, when you used it couldn't you regenerate it right back again?"
>That… seems likely, actually.
>[IT]”It sounds like Dragon Organs, pumped full of power.”
“Wait, isn't Titus working on Divine Batteries or something? I felt something like that last time I took a peek at his workshop."
[Lyubov]"Yes, he's been experimenting with different gems. He's got a friend who empowers them with divine lightning, and hooks them up to the gauntlet. We had a good talk about different sorts of insulation... But, yes. I wonder how the vampires took him walking into their home with his gauntlet, anyway?"

I grab for my chin again as I plunge deep into thought. Ah, good old chin-always gives my hand a perfect spot to pose.

"I'll have to ask him about that when he gets back-and if they really had a problem they would have called me."
Lyubov abruptly takes us back to the original topic, as she is wont to do.
[Lyubov]"I don't really understand the mechanics of a soul bubble, but if it's anything at all like a magnetic envelope, there should be ways to cycle the energy feeding to it to create resonance in the bubble itself. There might be, um. Rates of power input that are more stable, very high cyclic rates instead of flows, which would naturally make the bubble stronger in some parts and less strong in others. It's very dramatic to watch patterns form from standing waves. It's something I've been thinking about for that plasma envelope thing I've been working on. But resonance is a phenomena that seems to show up in pretty much everything else, so why not souls too?"
>…
>[Hummingbird]”Is the female questioning my methods?”
"Probably. But Lyubie, that'd fall under 'learn a fuck ton more about this', which is still my problem."
She emphatically shakes her head.
[Lyubov]"No, it's just experimenting with varying the way power is fed to the bubble. Predicting patterns would require a lot of knowledge and simulation, but just finding resonant frequencies only requires trial and effort and energy."
>[Hummingbird]”I grasp that she is proposing a way to improve the technique in a tangible way, but she is being unclear.”
>Just tell us what you’re having trouble with.
>[Hummingbird]”I am not ‘having trouble’ with anything except her inadequate and unclear explanation. Until I have got it down I am not going to share what this proposed modification to the technique entails.”
"Would you like to explain it to Hummingbird? Because he's refusing to share his info until he's 'got it down'."
[Lyubov]"Uh. I'll explain it in magnetic fields because I'm still very new to the soul stuff but I have like four years of memories of playing with magnets and electronics in physics and engineering classes. So, when you make an electromagnetic field it is done usually by pushing electric energy through a coil, and the field forms at angles to the coil itself. The more power you put into the coil, the bigger the field becomes, until the coil breaks because it overheated."
This is logical. This is high school stuff. I even sort of remember watching a tv show about some of this on PBS. But I let her keep talking.
[Lyubov]"If you have multiple coils near each other and they are running at different frequencies you get fields interacting and shaping differently, and there's some loss in some places where they interact, but there's also some stable parts that you can use as actual envelopes to hold like plasma or gas. And that's because the fields were flipping back and forth and in some places they interacted and became a standing wave that is stable.”
Okaaay, I sort of understand the idea of a standing wave. Sort of. She must have picked up on my confusion, because she starts clarifying with an analogy.
[Lyubov]“It's like in a swing, if you push at the right time the person on the swing keeps going higher because you're adding energy to them at just the right time. And if you push incorrectly they quickly slow and stop because the energy is fighting what's already there. But in a 3D field you have to accept some places of loss and some of large gain. You'll get really neat patterns of very strong and weak spots, I think."
>That… that’s remarkable. Why didn’t we think of this? Well not me specifically, I have my Shade to run-why didn’t YOU, Armas?
No comment.
>[Hummingbird]”Her approach and explanation are sufficient for me to start working on this at once. The power cycling and pocket-bubble techniques do indeed seem sound.”
I think there’s a problem with her theory though. And I start to outline it.
"I like the cycling and pocket creation ideas though-and so does Hummingbird. But, Soul bubbles, and soul manipulation in general, while able to be expressed in physical space are not rooted in it. I don't suppose you know anything about how to manipulate fields that exist in a state where dimensions aren't really a thing?"

Lyubov gives me a quizzical look. It’s a look that actually… looks pretty good. Slap a pair of librarian glasses on her and-

>Please pay attention to what she is saying.
[Lyubov]"Dimensions are just a way of describing how many degrees of freedom you have. Mathematically there has to be at least one dimension to anything you can experience at all, and if it is interacting in the real world it just means that it is three plus some extra number of dimensions."
I can feel Hummingbird and Shadowbro chuckling at me.
Not my fault I didn’t get it.
>It is though, you could have asked either of us, or Dávgon.
I make a fake pouty face at Lyubov.
"Oy. Stop making mister High School here feel dumb as shit. Little miss 'cheat my way into a college education'."
She smiles warmly at me.
[Lyubov]“Sorry. And, I had that one year in Moscow. Before I dropped out."
She didn’t sound very sorry. I smile back.
"Sophistry and you know it! Anyway-besides trying to find ways to verify I'm properly working with energy flow rather than against it to build cohesion, and using multiple field sources to form pockets-which I have to assume will be great for the swarm form what with each body generating their own-what else stands out to you?"
Lyubov purses her lips thoughtfully.
[Lyubov]"To start with, pick just a few field sources to work with and keep them static initially. It's easiest to see how frequencies interact that way. Watch for how the bubble projects back in the extra-dimensional part of the array if you can. It might be that the pattern you want shows up in physical space only if the field sources are rotated with respect to the real world. Actually, just make testing rotations part of your research protocol."
>[Hummingbird]”The female is putting a modicum of thought into this.”
[Lyubov]"If you need to monitor the way the physical part is forming, why not try putting uniform force on it? Have Sake blow rice or something at you, just hard enough to test it for weak spots but not so hard you're uncomfortable. Resonant frequencies will make patterns in the bubble just seem to appear on their own."
>She just gave us a protocol that anyone could follow, and get results from through brute force repetition.
"That should give me a good instinctual foundation to run my body through-“
Lyubov does ‘frowning librarian’ pretty well too, it turns out. Actually, I think I’ve seen her mom make that same face at her.
“-hey, don't look at me like that, I bet the other Armas preferred to learn things intuitively as opposed to theoretically!"
She finally smiles in that Lyubovian way of hers.
[Lyubov]"That’s true, but it’s not the point. Well, anyway, I guess if it is instinctual you will be faster with it when it counts."
"Way I understand it, I just hardcode the actual data into my Id and can instant-access it. Like... instead of having to calculate out how hard to throw something and at what angle to make it land in a certain place, I, from my perspective, just 'know' the answer. ...Now that I think of it, that's quite a bit like Savantism, isn't it?"
Whatever Lyubov was going to say is interrupted by Sake entering the room and sniggering.
[Lyubov]"Hey Goldilocks, what's so funny?"
Goldilocks?
>Don’t ask. It’s funnier this way.
>[Sake]"I totally had the best idea ever for how to get that freaking puppy! I'm just gonna hit it with a Double Hundred Eight Ball! Even Ohotnik's gotta get staggered by that!"
He bursts into another fit of sniggers.
[Lyubov]That's... sort of excessive isn't it?"
>[Sake]"He'll survive it probably! Anyway, it'll be fine!"

He plops himself atop Lyubov's head. She reaches up and strokes him.

>[Sake]"Anyway Lube whacha jibba-jabbering with Bro about?"
Lube?
>It’s more meaningful than Lyubie. And technically it’s your fault.
[Lyubov]"How to turn the kite thing I was telling you about into better soul bubbles for him. Not the literal device, but the ideas it is based on."
>[Sake]"Oh, that thing you talked about with big words and stuff. Lemme see..."
I can feel my weasely brother sniffing and snuffling his way through my recent memories. I very deliberately blink, and just allow the intrusion.
>Certainly easier than catching him up.
>[Sake]"OOOOOh, that's the plan-yeah, that sounds cool!"
[Lyubov]"Does it make the kite make more sense now?"
>[Sake]"Just make it already so I can fly it!"
[Lyubov] “I think the first one I build won't be very portable but it will show off that it's doable, and I'll be able to upgrade it right away with magitech parts. Superconductors, either magic ones or mundane ones with magitech cooling, will make it very small. And a divine electric power supply. So, the flyable one will be ready soon."
She smiles at me when she notices I’ve been making faces at Sake, who is busy making his own back from atop her head.
[Lyubov]"Think of drones with wings that can be dynamically shaped and can also be used as speakers if you want. And I think I can expand it into shield systems that register as being almost all mundane."
"That does sound good. I'll still need to actually see them in action though."
[Lyubov]"Yeah, me too! It’ll be a lot of work to get there."
She rapidly switches topics as a new idea strikes her.
[Lyubov] “Oh, did you get to meet that Anguisher guy Grisha brought home?"
The crusty, oft-Cursed old man without a shred of empathy in his body that Grisha brought back like a skuzzy puppy.
"I've seen his soul. Is he as bad as he feels?"
[Lyubov]“Yeah. I talked to him for awhile. He's just in constant agony, so he learned techniques to move the pain around. He has all these different curses, which are like a divine one, a bevy of wizard curses from the Mad Drunk, and a mind curse from a leprechaun he angered. The divine one is the most interesting, I realized it's actually a corrupted einherjar seed. I asked him about that, and he explained he'd tortured a valkyrie until it snapped and started handing out corrupt einherjar seeds. The angel that punished him must have had a sense of irony, I guess."
>[Sake]”That guy is a riot, he’s such a mess!”
[Lyubov]"But the curse was written mainly in runes, and was corrupted so that it was literally cutting into his soul at the same time as it was powering a fleshcrafting matrix to grow these horrible little flesh eating worms in his gut."
That’s...
"...Okay, I have to admit he's more interesting than I thought."
>What I find interesting is how easily she read the divine parts. Remember, she has essentially zero training in curse theory. This was all innate.
"Hm. Wonder if they'd be good for the Kudoku jars or the golem?"
[Lyubov] “What do you say Sake? You analyzed one. And by analyzed I mean ate."
Sake’s shovel paws tap out a beat on top of Lyubov’s head as he ponders the question.
>[Sake]"I think the worms could make the bugs tastier."

Oh man, not him too! Duke was bad enough, but…
"...Sake have you been eating Kudoku bugs?"
>[Sake]"If I say yes, will you be mad?"
“So that's a yes."
>[Sake]"You said it not me!"
"Sake, come on!"
[Lyubov]"So is it like when Duke did the thing with the bugs and his own pee? Is that how you did the trick with the blood and Bagga, Sake?"
Sake’s soul goes… wary? Sketchy, anyway.
>[Sake]"I do not know for certain that I know what you are talking about Lyubie-and hey, look at the time, I should just get going now..."
He starts slinking to the door..
[Lyubov] “Hey come on!"
Lyubov reaches over and grabs him by the scruff of his neck. Sake hangs in her hands like a big furry green limp noodle, and whines at her.
>[Sake]"Aw. Aw Lyubie. No fair. Come on."
She collects him into her arms and releases her grip on the scruff of his neck, just holding him against her chest.
[Lyubov]"Yeah, no fair. If you don't want to talk about it, just say so."
Sake is alternating between bristling at the effrontery of being handled like a little weasel pup, and snuggling into her arms, his long noodle-like body nestled between her breasts… rather phallically now that I think of it.
>Is that all you ever think of? Frankly I’m surprised he’s being so docile for her. Anyone else he would be attacking for doing that. Even you.
>[Sake]"So yeah, it's like that trick."
[Lyubov]"It's how Toso made his medicine, too?"
>[Sake]"...Yeah..."
Toso?
>One of his weasel brothers. I’m really surprised by how close they are, if he told her all that.
[Lyubov]"Could you show me sometime? It'd be useful to be able to give people a portable way to heal. You can't be everywhere, and since it's a divine trick I could learn it."
>[Sake]"Um... you... want to make healing goo from your pee? What?"
[Lyubov] “I'll figure out what I'm making it from after I learn the basic technique.
At this point I just have to jump in and rescue the conversation in general.
“That's excellent to hear you're so gung-ho about being a team player Lyubov-when can I expect the first batch ready for testing?"
[Lyubov]“We'll just have to wait and see, Armas.”
At this point Sake pulls a happy face and wriggles free from her embrace. He flies off to find some new mischief. After he’s gone, Lyubov decides to say something else.
[Lyubov]“Oh, also, actually, I talked to Zhenya and she's OK with letting you observe her getting her new body mods, but she wanted me to be present too. Maybe you can talk her into letting you channel for Gianni? I sure couldn’t, she dug in at letting us watch. I'm personally interested in building a divine fleshcrafter emulation package so it'd be useful for me to watch you do the channeling, and I figure it’d be useful for you to get the practice in, right?"

She wants me to work on her friend. While she watches. What can I say to that?

"...Okay, we’ll see."
[Lyubov]"Uh. Zhenya did say something like 'everyone gets to go to the Zhenya show' and she mentioned she felt kinda weird about it, so. When you help her can you be casual about it? Like it's nothing to stress over?"
Damn, there goes some of my fun.
“I will not go out of my way to make a comical scene, how about that?"
[Lyubov]"That is perfect."
She leans over and kisses me.

And thereafter I have a pretty good night.

TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 29th, 2011
PERSONAL FUNDS: +$350,000.00+$19,000.00 $3,233,660.00
BUSINESS FUNDS: +$386,125.00 $1,781,109.00
CASH: $6,120.00
SHADOW PATIENCE: 90%
WINTER ENERGY: 160
SUMMER ENERGY: 50/50

Smacking my lips I wake up with a bit of brain coffee, and start planning my day.




What's my plan?