His was already starting to glow green, while mine was throwing a cold blue light far enough for me to see the far side of the room.
“Thanks!” I said. “When did you decide to start getting useful, all of a sudden?”
“Little while ‘go.”
“Yeah? What changed?”
He looked at me, the red light reflecting back at me from his eyes. “Realized dat I just might get a second chance to make a first impression on da *shttuck*ers in ‘Allow. Lookin’ forward to it.”
The vial he’d given me had a thick wire wrapped around it, and I used it to hang it from the fishhook amulet on the string of pendants around my neck. “I like the sound of that,” I told him.
Maybe Bingo wasn’t all bad. He was a crewmember, and until I was able to get a new one I’d be better off working with him as opposed to against him.
Bingo watched me hang the vial and nodded with approval. “Da light’ll fade in fifteen minutes or so. When it does, smack it ‘round ‘gain to wake it up.”
“Sure thing.”
He glanced around at the carnage. “From da looks a things, ya earned it. Da bodies piled up ‘ere explain my experience spike a while back. Ya do good work, boyo.” He stomped appreciatively through a grisly mound of vaguely humanoid-shaped char. “Crunchy.”
I winced. “We can probably do without those sorts of comments,” I said, following in his wake. “Even though these Heroes joyfully occupy our town, wantonly doing terrible things to the people we hold dear, I think now’s a good time to remind ourselves that cruelty in any form is an evil unto itself.”
Bingo stopped fast in his soot-outlined tracks. “Really?”
“Hell no. These malignant oxygen thieves got what was coming to them. Hey look, a revolver!”
Fangspitter Revolver
Damage: 1d4
Damage Type: Piercing
Additional Effects: +1 to accuracy when firing at a target 25 – 50 yards away, +2 to accuracy when firing at a target beyond 50 yards away
Weight: 1.6 pounds
Number of Projectile’s Stored: 6
Method of Projectile Storage: Capacitive Cylinders
Durability: 6/10
Description: Long and lean, this weapon specializes in throwing small bullets a long distance.
Minimum Level Required to Equip: 1
Base Resale Value: 2 gold 15 silver
Base Dismantle Result: 3 Iron Bars, 6 Mother of Pearl scraps
Base Alchemical Result: 22 Iron Sigils
Base Decantation Result: 1 Aggression Core, 1 Optical Spirit
It came complete with a holster, which would fit me if I wrapped it around my waist twice. The weapon would better suit Patch though, who I was hoping to keep far away from the nitty gritty of combat.
I held on to it and followed Bingo as he kicked through more remains. We worked our way deeper into the temple and I pointed off to the left. “Over there was were Warwick died. He’ll have some decent drops.”
“Who’s Warwick?”
“You can’t miss him. He’ll be the corpse with a red stripe of spray paint across his face.”
He grunted and obediently changed course. Almost immediately I saw that something was wrong.
Decipher (Somatosensory) Roll
Cunning Roll: 5
Result: Partial Success
Was that wind I felt on my face?
“Looks like somebody got ‘ere first and dragged him out,” Bingo said, pointing at the rear of the temple.
Proficiency Check
Tracking: 10
Result: Success
New Skill Values:
Tracking = 14/100
Part of the wall was smashed in, and tracks in the ashes led from the empty spot where I’d expected to find Warwick straight outside.
We were on the edge of a huge hole in the charred floorboards, and I peered over and look straight down into the basement. If we wanted to follow the trail of the corpse robbers we could, but it’d almost certainly require some Friskiness rolls.
And for what? If they wanted Warwick’s body so badly, they could have it.
“Forget it,” I said. “The good stuff should be one floor below us, since this one collapsed.”
Bingo leaned over to see what I was talking about. I had to grab him by the belt to stop him from toppling end over end into the abyss. We
Stability Roll
Power Roll: 12
Result: Success
almost plunged in together, but I hauled him back at the last second.
“T’anks,” he rasped. “Guess I’m more top ‘eavy den I used ta be.”
After seeing what he’d been eating while he was stranded in the mountain, I wasn’t surprised.
The closer we got to the ruined staircase, the more uncertain our footing. Bingo did his best, but the floor was creaking and splintering beneath his boots. When he saw my previously sabotaged staircase and realized how hard the climb down would be, he threw in the towel.
“*Shht*uckin’ gravity. Dat’s a job for da younger gen. If I did get down dere, I’d never get back up. I’ll be waitin’ out front for ya.”
“Okay,” I said, handing him the Fangspitter Revolver. “Give this to Patch for me, okay?”
He nodded and left. I listened to him tromp out, followed by the muted sounds of the conversation he was having with Patch. I couldn’t make out their words, and as I
Climbing Roll
Friskiness Roll: 16
Result: Success
climbed down into the basement even that sound was lost.
I remembered the layout. That let me work fast, and less than ten minutes later my bags were full of items and my arms were full of bags. I
Climbing Roll
Friskiness Roll: 10
Result: Success
had a devil of a time scaling what was left of the stairs. I made it, but not without almost teetering backward a couple of times.
I dragged my bags to the front door, where Bingo grabbed them from me. He had a lot more Power than I did, and I was grateful for the help. “Any sign of yer friend on da lower level?” he asked.
Patch raised an eyebrow at me, but didn’t say anything.
“He means Warwick, the Paladin who caught us out past curfew a couple of nights ago. He was in the temple when I burned it down, probably farming rat tails. I promised him a rep exploit in exchange for looking the other way.”
“So he’s gone?”
“That’s a perfect choice of words. Yes, I killed him and yes, he’s gone…”
Patch cocked her head at me, but instead of attempting to explain that further I hoisted one of the sacks and made like Santa, dumping my gifts out on the wagon’s bed.
I was used to IDing stuff and splitting it up when it was just Patch and I, which was why I was so surprised when Bingo started quickly slapping his hand down on pieces of loot and talking to himself through his mask. “Scrap, crap, scrap, scrap, crap, scr-”
Patch leaned in close to me and whispered, “What’s he doing? His voice sounds kinda like yours does, when you do your thing.”
She was right. Bingo was obviously using his Scrapper Knack. “I took a peek at what he could do,” I told her, watching him closely. “I think he’s grading the items for us, sorting them out in terms of quality.”
He was quick about it too, separating the items into three distinct piles. “‘Kay,” he said, sounding more like his usual self again as he aimed his blunt index finger at the largest collection of objects. “Dat’s ‘crap’. Sell it or don’t. Dat stuff,” he shifted his attention to the middle heap, “is ‘scrap’, which is ‘xactly what it’ll be in a sec. Dese,” he inclined his chin at a few items that’d taken pride of place nearest me, “are ‘Slow Clap’. Quite a bit better den average and well worth equipping.”
“You are full of surprises, aren’t you?” I said. “And from the gleam in your eye I’d say you’ve got a lot more to deliver.”
“Surely do. Dis litt
le beauty,” he held up a golden earring pinched between his thumb and forefinger, “is ‘Oh, Snap’!”
I’d never heard of any of these classification before, but they made sense on an instinctive level that appealed to my Gearblin sensibilities. Patch was so excited that she climbed up on the wagon just to jump off it in joy. “Bingo! You’ll save us so much time!”
“It is pretty cool,” I said, taking the offered earring. It had been wedged between two bricks in the corner of the basement, and the gleam of it had happened to catch my eye. I’d been in too much of a rush to bother using Identify on everything as I went, which made me even more curious as to what it did.
Golden Earring of Radar Love
Description: This item is part of a matching pair. When placed against the other, the two will sync. Once the wavelengths harmonize, the users can telepathically communicate feelings of:
(1) A desire for personal closeness
(2) Longing
(3) Comfort
Side Effects: Successful use of the item may result in any combination of the following:
(1) Sweaty Palms
(2) Nearby Radios Playing Forgotten Songs
(3) Hypnotizing Roads
(4) A Light in the Sky
Bonus Effects: When responding to a request for help, movement speed increased by 33.3% until morning.
Durability: 10/10
“Wow’, I said. “This thing’s amazing.”
Bingo watched me, his eyes narrowing. “What ya gonna do wit’ it?”
I shrugged. “Hang on to it, I guess. It’s not much use without another one.”
He shook his head, leaning in and turning the volume of his gas mask’s speaker down to a whisper. “Not so good at romantic gestures, are ya?” he murmured.
“Huh?”
He inclined his chin at Patch. “Brownie Points, boyo. Take it from me. Dey’re a real t’ing.”
“Oh. Good idea.”
He turned away to salvage the loot that wasn’t up to snuff, and I looked at Patch. “For you,” I said, handing it to her with as little fanfare as possible.
She’d been happy before, but not she was absolutely elated. “Awesome! Get down on one knee first, though.”
“It’s just an earring…”
“So?”
“So take it or don’t, but this is not a proposal.”
She flipped her eyepatch up so that she could wink at me properly. “Thank you,” she said, admiring it. I hadn’t thought to look before I’d given it to her, but now that I did I saw that all of the piercings in her ears were already used up.
That didn’t slow Patch down for an instant. She pulled a metal awl from her toolbelt, placed it just inside her nose and then poked the thin spike through her nostril.
I winced and sucked in air. “Doesn’t that hurt?”
“Beauty is pain, babe.” She wore the Golden Earring of Radar Love as a nose ring, ignoring the drops of blood falling to her crop top. “Annnnnnd it’s a perfect fit. I’ll never take it off, Raze!”
It wouldn’t work until we ran across another one, but at least it looked good on her.
Bingo was too busy pushing hundreds of rat tails to one side so that he could continue dismantling the junk I’d looted to pay attention to her silliness. He’d already rendered everything in the ‘scrap’ pile into their components by folding, crushing and tearing the objects with a precision that somehow let them become perfect bars of metal.
If I ignored the vendor junk he was breaking down, that left a string of Cherry Bombs, a Hammer of Hurt, a set of Brass Knuckles with a weak Armor Piercing enchant and Steel-Alloy Gladius that had a better chance to make the target bleed out than they otherwise would have.
Once Bingo finished scrapping, I caught his eye and said, “Each of us, in our own way, have started something rolling. Some of the Dregs have already made it to the mountain, buying themselves a whopping…” I let my voice trail off as I checked.
THE BRAWL OF THE MOUNTAIN KING
begins in
9 hours - 40 minutes - 19 seconds
Damn… “Well, let’s just say they can’t even watch all three Lord of the Rings movies with the time they have left.”
Patch looked horrified. “Not even the far inferior theatrical releases?”
“Nope. Though I’d argue that, if they haven’t already seen them, their life’s probably already not worth living. Anyway, let’s bust out our people fast and get everybody back to the Rule of Cool base in one piece.”
Bingo grabbed the Hammer of Hurt. I picked up the Steel-Alloyed Gladius. When Patched patted the Fangspitter Revolver she’d already strapped to her hip, Bingo took the Brass Knuckles too.
“As much as I hate to do it,” I said, “we should probably leave the cart here. Let’s drag it over and hide it in the trees until we can steal some horses to haul it back to the mountain.”
Bingo nodded. His Power let him do most of the work as we shifted the cart, with Patch and I pushing or steering when we could. Once it was in place we cut some branches to camouflage the vehicle.
Proficiency Check
Camouflage: 55
Result: Failure
New Skill Values:
Camouflage = 21/100
I did a terrible job of it, but the others helped out and eventually we concealed it properly. After that, we hurried in single file back down the street, past the temple and down the street.
I didn’t see anything to worry about on the way to Sanguine’s headquarters, and when I pulled us up short in a laneway across from it, I let everybody stop and catch their breath.
“Why aren’t the Heroes getting in our way?” Patch asked. “I was pretty sure they’d have caught us by now.”
“Busy,” Bingo told her, turning her so that she could see fresh waves of flame lighting up the darkness down by the docks. There was a whole line of buildings on fire down there, and
Proficiency Check
Pyromania: 61
Result: Success
New Skill Values:
Pyromania = 81/100
a seasoned arsonist such as myself could see that they’d all been set within a couple of minutes of each other.
It wouldn’t have taken more than a handful of determined individuals to get them going, and the fact that they’d found the balls to do it with the town already in turmoil told me just how invested we all were.
There really was no going back.
“The other fires they set were distractions,” I said. “But that one’s taking out supplies. It’s an act of war, and if there’s Heroes chasing the Dregs that’ve already packed up and fled to the mountain, that’ll lure a lot of them back.”
“Makes sense,” she said, “but who’s doing it?”
A subtle movement in the doorway of the warehouse that butted up against our hiding place
Decipher (Visual) Roll
Cunning Roll: 17
Result: Success
caught my eye, and I drew my crew’s attention to a couple of figures eyeing the entrance to the dungeon that sat below Sanguine’s nerve center. They were some of Zazzer’s guys, and before they could decide that being seen by me was a bad thing I slipped through the shadows and took shelter alongside them.
Patch came too, but Bingo was too busy reaching into his pocket for something to notice us make the dash.
Their leader may have been a Gnoll, but these guys were Kobolds. They narrowed their yellow eyes, the biggest of them snarling at me. That was Botha, Zazzer’s Capo and the guy in charge of his muscle.
“Relax. We’re here for some PVP, but not with you,” I told him.
Botha snickered at me. “You looked in a mirror, lately?”
“Nope. But things have changed, and you and me have the same enemies. The fires along the water are a nice touch,” I said. “Keep the VC busy on the other side of the city and torch their dockside supplies at the same time.”
“I thought so. Who’s the girl?”
“You
wouldn’t know her. She’s pretty new, and she keeps her nose clean.” I glanced at her, and of course there was a line of blood trailing from her new nose ring. “Except for right now…”
“I’m Patch!”
“Congrats,” he said. “Now skedaddle.” He was taller than me, and when he flexed his muscles his scales caught what little moonlight reached ground level.
“Good idea,” I told him. “We should all scamper, but not without the ones in there.” I pointed at the dungeon.
“Yeah?”
“Yeah.” Botha was weighing me up, and I stared him down and lifted the Gladius. “You’re bigger than me. Stronger, too. But you can’t equip this, and I can. So can she. Even the one in the laneway over there, fiddling with his mysterious ring again for some reason, can. I’m a Hero, now.”
Botha opened his mouth, then closed it and scratched the line of scales that ran down the back of his head.
“Don’t feel bad. I wouldn’t know what to say either,” I told him.
He watched me for a second, then glanced at Patch and Bingo. “I’m just trying to work out if this new development is worse for us or them.”
“I know a good way to find out. I’m assuming that you’re willing to help us get the Dregs.”
“We’re just here for Zazzer. If a few others get saved along the way, so be it.”
Patch stepped to him, glaring up at his face. “You have to help us free all of the prisoners, not just your smalltime mob boss.”
“Everything’s a calculation,” he said, holding up one hand. “Danger,” and the other hand, “Opportunity.” He bounced them both up and down in the air and then held them equal in front of his face. “I think Zazzer’s still waiting to see which side we land on.”
Know Your Roll Page 22
