Runelords 28.2 - Transfer of Power

Luna glared. She had stomped her way to the outskirts of Sandpoint, and had kept going. The fighting was over. The fighting was over but people had died; people had died and she had watched and didn’t stop it. Ameiko had died and maybe if she had been faster, she could have saved her. Maybe if she hadn’t gotten distracted by the lamia, had turned her attentions immediately to Lamar instead, she could have saved the woman’s life. Maybe if she had killed the lamia properly the first time, like she was supposed to, this wouldn’t have happened at all. Maybe if she hadn’t been so weak, she could have helped Aldern deal with the first wave of treants faster, and she wouldn’t have had to waste time retreating and running back. Maybe if she wasn’t so completely dependant on her gun, she wouldn’t have been so helpless against the drake when it broke. She was angry and disappointed in herself, so she stormed off past the wall, into the trees, and away from everyone who was tired and crying and hurt. She couldn’t be any of those things, and it made it worse. 
She stormed through the trees, kicking plants out of her way. She was hungry, since getting damaged always made her hungrier, but she didn’t exactly have anywhere to get food from. It wasn’t as though she had any hunting skill, and now was an awful time to try and get livestock from Sandpoint; she’d have to wait until morning to make more negative energy infusions, and live with that until she could buy more meat without raising suspicions. She groused in her head, nitpicking at all of her perceived weaknesses.
As her surly, blaming thoughts milled through her head, a single, piercing thought made her stop: why couldn’t she be stronger? She paused in her steps and considered that, thinking of no logical reason stopping her. Slowly, she slid her shoulder bag off of her back, which contained her arcane and alchemical supplies. Reaching in, she pulled out the battered half-book that was Zara and held it out before her. Zara? she turned her thoughts towards her.
Yes? the book replied telepathically, her voice calm and pleasant. 
I’m wondering... she began. …I’m wondering how to improve myself. She continued, I’m not human, so I shouldn’t be limited by the natural constraints that hold the living. I’m a construct. My strengths are directly tied to the magic that animates me, and since that’s the case, refining my form should only be a matter of improving that magic. That should be within my ability, shouldn’t it? She added, And if it is possible, you might already know how.
Let me just say, Zara replied, that I *love* when you take initiative. Your skills are improving rapidly, but it’s your vision that will truly set you apart. Now, it’s a lack of power that you’d like addressed?
Yes.
Well, I suppose I should first start by pointing out: necromancy gains much of its potential energy from death.
Luna looked a touch exasperated, Yes, I know that. I’m not going to be bathing in virgin blood. She made a huff, and her expression became sidelong, But...there were a lot of things that died today. A lot of things that died before, in Turtleback. And a lot more things that are going to die before Karzoug is stopped. And if things are going to be dying anyway, it might as well not go to waste.
Excellent! Zara lauded. Now, if it is a lack of power that you wish to address, might I first suggest the use of more basic necromancy? A guard contingent can go a long way. Particularly if you have access to some of the bodies that were made today.
I don’t want thralls, I want to be stronger myself, Luna retorted. The problem is that I’m already completely dependent on my technology, and adding in thralls isn’t going to change that. She paused and tugged at her sleeve, Also, zombies are...I don’t very much like mindless undead.
Fair enough, fair. But, if you change your mind, I have lots of information on that process. I’m certain it could be easily tailored to your preferred brand of arcana. She cleared her non-existent throat and carried on, Now, let me see, something to improve yourself… The book opened of its own accord, and its pages flipped about, eventually settling on a section near the beginning. Here. This might satisfy your requirements… Luna brought her nose down to the page, adjusting her glasses. It was a complicated ritual, she could tell from the arcane array pictured before her, but the notes themselves were still written in an indecipherable code. Zara explained it to her as she poured over the diagrams, This particular ritual will allow you, as an undead, to achieve a vast array of power. Luna raised an eyebrow, as Zara continued, It transfers physical strength, sensory acuity, magical abilities, any manner of undead enhancements from a donor subject, to yourself. It works more smoothly if the donor is willing, mind you, and there is...perhaps a bit of diminishing return involved. Any enhancement you receive will have a slight reduction in potency from the transfer, and each subsequent casting of the ritual will require a bit more energy and material to cast. Only similar sorts of undead can offer their abilities to you; the magic of vampires and liches is too dissimilar to be compatible with your own constitution, so you’ll be restricted to other ghouls. But, even with those limitations, she added, consider the potential. Luna tapped her lip thoughtfully. Zara said with a sly note in her voice, There’s already, I’m sure, a willing donor in your acquaintance already, who, from what I’ve heard, is rather squandering his strengths.
I’m not sacrificing Aldern, Luna replied bluntly.
Zara was not offended, Oh, no!! It wouldn’t cause any *lasting* harm; I would never suggest that! He’s a strong man, and he wouldn’t be resisting, so I’m sure he’d barely notice it. True, there’s an energy cost, since the ritual favours the use of the donor’s strength over your own, but you’ve already mastered lesser restoration, and all it would take to rejuvenate him would be the full version of the spell. He’d be weakened for moments at best. Well, excepting whatever abilities he’d give to you. Luna pondered that, and Zara added, It would make a poetic sort of bond between you, don’t you think?
Luna’s eyes leapt hungrily over the senseless words, longing for their content. What...happens, when the ritual is cast? Is there a risk to...either subject?
At your skill level? No, I don’t believe so. You’re very fastidious with your arrays, and both parties are willing; I can’t imagine anything going seriously wrong. There’s always a certain level of risk with arcana, though.
Of course.
Zara continued, The ritual would allow you to target any particular enhancements a body received from the act of becoming an undead. They would be stripped from the donor, leaving them with whatever they possessed in life. The more you take from any individual, the greater the costs are, and should you take the lion’s share of a donor’s power, you might destroy them entirely, but it’s infinitely more economical to take as much as possible from a donor than trying to repeat the process for the same donor in small portions. Luna frowned at the mention of destruction, and Zara tut-tutted, As I said, he is a strong man. You would have to take *a lot* of power to do that. If you aren’t *trying* to kill him, you certainly won’t. The woman looked deep in thought, and the book concluded, An investment of materials and a few moments of weakness, and you can take advantage of the strength he tries so hard to ignore. How many abilities does he have that he doesn’t use? Isn’t even aware of?
...Or...would be glad to be rid of… Luna said, half to herself. ...Show me the array.
The smile in Zara’s voice was audible, Of course! But... she added with reservation, I am going to have to ask you to not keep any permanent notes. The amulets and negative spells are one thing, but this is not a ritual that I would risk the greater undead community gaining access to. She sounded pleased again, I trust you will use it responsibly.
Yeah… Luna said off-handedly, already becoming absorbed in the nuances of the spell, mesmerized by the new information.
It's a shame, Zara mentioned. The rituals are some of the earliest pages within me; I can barely imagine what power might be held in my missing pages... 
Luna flipped to the beginning, and noted that she must be right: if the rest of the present content was any indication, the vast majority of notes regarding rituals must be missing. She half-addressed Zara, I will find the rest, when we aren't fighting to stop a warlord.
Of course, she replied patiently, and began to walk Luna through the particulars of the ritual.
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With a light knock, Luna let herself into the inn room she shared with Aldern. The noise had caught his attention, and he glanced over his shoulder to see her come in. “Luna!” he said with a portion of relief, turning from his work at the desk to regard her, “Are you alright?” It was very late in the night, or more accurately, early in the morning. After the battle had been soundly ended and the fires extinguished, she had wandered away without warning, and it had been many hours since anyone had seen her. 
Now, she pulled off her shoes, and let her bag, equipment belt and jacket fall on the floor. Perching on the bed, she brought her legs up to lean on her knees. Aldern rose and joined her, sitting down against her side as she explained, “Yeah. Yeah, I’m fine. It’s just...that wasn’t...I just, had to get some air, after that.” He nodded patiently, placing his hand over hers. She let a few beats pass silently before she leaned over and reached over the edge of the bed, into her bag. Pulling out a pair of vials filled with a dark, opalline liquid, she passed them to him, “Here, it’s been long enough that I could make more.”
He took them from her, a gracious smile on his lips. “Thank you. You don’t need any more?”
Shaking her head, he uncorked them and drank the liquid as she explained, “No, I fixed myself up already. I’m fine.” The lingering damage he had sustained from the battle, hidden by the hat he even now wore, was repaired. He returned her vials to her, and she tossed them at her bag before turning and pressing herself into his chest. He wrapped his arms around her gently, and the two sat quietly. Luna couldn’t help but think absently about how he felt under the thin illusion that made him appear alive: he was bony and wasted, rot having claimed much of his flesh and organs before she could fit him with the amulet that protected him. She could feel the claws on his fingertips that she couldn’t see, a faint smell of putrescence came from his skin, and he was preternaturally still and cold, without breath or pulse. It wasn’t as though any of these things bothered her: she knew full well that she wasn’t any better, and after having been a pariah in her hometown for so long, the feeling of being held, of someone caring about her, more than erased any negativity she might have felt. She twisted about, lying so that her head rested on his lap, and she took his hand in both of hers, lightly moving her fingers over the claws rendered invisible by illusion as she stared into the middle distance towards the ceiling. He obviously didn’t enjoy the attention brought to his hands, but he indulged her, sitting silently. Suddenly, she spoke, “I could take them away.”
“Huh?” he frowned, completely lacking the context for her statement. “...You don’t have to cut them right now, if you don’t want. There’s no rush.”
“No, no…” she said, shaking her head slightly, her gaze still distant. “I mean, for good.” He looked confused, so she continued. “I was looking through Zara, and found a new spell. It’s...expensive, and draining, but I think I can do it, and it seems low-risk enough, and, I can use it to take away the things you don’t want. Like the claws.”
“...Really?” he asked quietly, ever made starry-eyed by her efforts.
“If the claws and fangs were gone,” she mused absently, “when we find the undying bones...you’d look human again. Basically...basically human…” Aldern just looked stunned, considering her words. Luna looked up at him, “What would you want to get rid of?”
“I...You could...you would do that…?”
She smiled slightly, “Yeah. Yeah, of course.”
He pulled her up into a tight hug, ‘Oh, Luna…!” Emotion was thick in his voice, “Luna…” She returned the embrace, and he held her like she was precious. 
“What don’t you want?” she reiterated. 
“...I hate the claws,” he muttered. “I hate the claws, and the teeth, and the tongue, and the smell. I hate my reflection. I hate knowing what I look like under the disguise, and I’m afraid that people might see through it...and what people would think if they did. I can...ignore, most everything else. But...if I could look like myself again…” His voice was low and hopeful, and his longing was clear.
Her tentative smile was still there, and she gave a small, faux pout, “Aww, no. I like your tongue…” 
Aldern laughed. He chuckled and gave her a tighter hug. “Fine. Fine. Anything you could do is more than I could ever hope for. Anything at all.” He added, “Heh. I suppose that it’s not noticeable anyway.” 
Luna considered something for a moment, before muttering, “I...might not have enough money for it right away…”
“I’ll pay for it,” he said. “You can’t do all of these things for me, and have me do nothing. I won’t have you paying for it.”
“Well, I’ll help pay for it,” she said, “Honestly, it will depend on how much we can sell all of the weapons we got for. That...that should cover most of it.” She tapped her lip, “...I’ll go to Medinipur tomorrow.”
“So soon?”
“Well, we don’t know how much time we’ll have once we start travelling again, and the ritual will take hours to do. We might as well perform it now, before things get hectic again.” She looked consideringly as she spoke, “I’ll sell the extra weapons and things in Medinipur, and with our shares combined, the profits from that should probably cover the ritual materials. I can get to Medinipur and back in about four days if I run, and since I don’t think we can leave until the mayor gets back and…” her voice dropped, “...and we attend the funerals…” Shaking her head, she finished, “She’s not due back for five days. That’s more than enough time.”
“I’ll come with you,” he offered. 
“No…” she said vaguely, her voice becoming firm as she continued, “No. No one is going to really notice if I fall off the map for a few days. I’m an adventurer," she said with sarcasm. "People expect me to keep weird time and hobbies. But they’ll certainly wonder where you’ve gone, if you leave, and it’s not like you could regularly get to Medinipur and back that quickly." She shook her head, "I’ll be fine for a few days. Don’t worry.”
“I just want to help,” he said, pushing back her hair from her face. 
She gave a snort of laughter before shoving her face into his chest. Her voice drifted out from his shirt, “Then you can keep hugging me.”
He chuckled, “I can do that.” 
After a few moments of quiet, Luna suddenly jumped up, “Oh!” Aldern blinked in confusion as she leaned over and rummaged through her bag, pulling out another vial. “I forgot! I wanted to see if this worked.”
“What is it?” he asked, taking the potion. 
“Try it!” she said brightly. “Just, think about yourself the way you do with the hat, and drink it.” He shrugged, but did as she said. Nothing seemed to change, and he shrugged as he passed back the glass. Tossing it lightly aside, she reached over and pulled off the disguise hat he wore constantly. Under it, his appearance had changed: he still had a somewhat sickly look to him, but overall he looked at he had before death, without the rot and tell-tale features of a ghast. She smiled, “There! Alter Self!” 
Aldern investigated himself with a measure of shock, an incredulous smile growing up across his face as he did. Rather than just an illusion, his features had physically changed, making him appear much more human than before though he still had no life in his body. “...How...how long does it last?”
“Erm. Not very long. Only about ten minutes? At best?” she said hesitantly. “But I made a couple, so you can have that at least.” She smiled brightly, “But this is what we’re aiming for eventually, right? If I take the claws and teeth, and we find out how to reverse the rot, this is probably close to what you’ll look like!” 
Rather than speak, Aldern leaned forwards and pulled Luna in to kiss her. A few minutes later, he pulled back just enough to speak, “You do so much for me…”
She smirked, “It’s nothing, really. I mean, you pay for a lot of it. I just spend some time.”
“Well, only one of those is…” he trailed off and his expression went blank, as he suddenly realized the paradigm shift that had skewed their relative quantities of those two resources. She giggled and shook her head, kissing him again.
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Luna himmed to herself, several days later, as she prepared the complicated array in her inn room. Something the matter? Zara intoned.
Hmm...I was just thinking... Luna replied, not taking her attention away from the spell. I’m targeting his fangs. That should return his teeth to a regular human shape, and probably not do much to mine, if the enhancement is weakened due to the transfer. The claws, and the aura of decay: those should transfer over fine...Hmmm…
And…?
I was just thinking, Luna pondered, ...that without fangs or claws, his paralytic ability won’t have any way of being triggered. It seems to be a shame to leave something so powerful vestigial like that.
I’m certain he wouldn’t notice the loss, Zara mentioned. Most would think that the paralysis was a quality of the natural weapons themselves, not something separate.
The other thing is the negative aura, that frightens animals, she continued. He didn’t mention it, but it is something that is noticeable, and that bothers him. I mean, I think he rode horses all the time, and went on hunts with dogs. I don’t think he likes that power either, he just didn’t think of it at the time.
That is probably the case, Zara agreed. Are these the things you considered when you were looking for ways to gain strength? I would think that there are more direct enhancements to your abilities that you could take advantage of.
I don’t want to hobble Aldern for my benefit though, Luna argued. I mean, besides the fact that that’s super selfish...if you think about it objectively, making Aldern weaker doesn’t do me any favours. A lot of his strength is much better with him than with me. But, she added, he *does* have a lot of abilities that he doesn’t want, and doesn’t use. Yeah, they’re the more...monstrous ones, but anything can be useful in the right situation. He’ll be happy to be rid of the noticeable powers, and I’ll have more options at my disposal than before. Win-win. Besides, she added with a cavalier note, I’m sure we’ll eventually meet some psychotic undead that will need to be destroyed anyways, and I can take the more run-of-the-mill enhancements from them. 
True, true.
Luna still looked thoughtful, Aldern won’t be hurt by the additional transfers, right?
Oh, hardly not, Zara said confidently. You would have to take almost twice as much to court serious risk, I would think. Luna himmed again, and began to modify the spell.
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The ritual took hours to prepare, and almost an hour to cast. It was the dead of night, to reduce the likelihood of intrusion, and Luna and Aldern knelt within the confines of the complicated array, marked out in chalk in large looping swirls and star shapes along the wooden floor. Certain charged ingredients had been powdered and liquefied, mixed and smeared along the chalk in particular spots and lines, and the foci had been arranged in their appropriate spots: a claw cut from Aldern, a curl of Luna’s hair, a small axe made of black iron and human bone, and Zara herself. Luna chanted the complex words of arcana, working the spell. She could feel it sapping her energy, feeding on it to fuel the spell, but what it fed back to her was intoxicating, the sense of strength. Aldern slowly sunk forwards, resting heavily on his hands as he was drained, strain evident on his face. There was no stopping though: half-finished rituals were often disastrous, as they had exemplified for them in Vorel Foxglove.
When the spell completed, the pair sat silently. Aldern had half fallen to the floor, and Luna felt weak as well. Tired, she thought; she felt tired. It had been a long time since she had felt like that. How infinitely horrible, she thought, as she reached over to get the restoration potion she had made specially for Aldern that morning, idly noting the long, sharp nails that now grew from her fingers rather than Aldern’s. Undead were impossible to make tired, normally. Would an undead somehow made to be exhausted ever recover, if they were unable to rest like the living? Or would they just suffer forever, longing for a sleep that could never come? She dragged herself up and helped Aldern to the nearby bed, giving him the infusion as she did. He was much more haggard than she, and he weakly drank the potion that restored his vitality. Luna didn’t pause though, turning her attentions towards her nearby alchemy kit. She had to make another restorative for herself, apparently, and she hadn’t counted on that in the morning. As she worked, she wondered idly about the smell of rot. It seemed stronger, but she was too tired to give it much thought.
When she drank the completed restorative, and another potion that healed the toll that the ritual had taken on her physical form, she took a better stock of herself. She indeed had claws now, and perhaps her teeth were slightly sharper than before. The smell of rot was heavy, which confused her slightly, but more pressing was the overall feeling of success. It was a complicated ritual, and she had done it. She could do it again, she was sure. She was stronger now, and there really was no limit to how capable she could be. It wasn’t unlike the project she was born into in Columbia, that she had lived and died for, except now instead of improving future generations of humans, it was just herself, a construct, and that was infinitely simpler. No one was stopping her from working on this, either; not like at home. The thought of grander projects galvanized her as she considered future potentials.
As she picked up Zara and the foci, roughly sweeping away the runes and leaving the thorough cleaning for later, the book said warmly, You did excellently, my student. Luna thanked her, and placed her away with the other things before joining Aldern on the bed. 
The man was lying down, looking up at his hands as held them in the air, marvelling at his fingernails, now human again. As Luna lay beside him, he glanced towards her before turning back to his hands. He was smiling as he said, “This...it’s so much better…” He felt his fingertips, “Some of them feel...sort of loose…”
“Be careful,” Luna said, looking over at him. “Nails and teeth fall out when bodies rot, but if we keep them attached, they should be fine again once we find the undying bones.” She frowned consideringly, “...Honestly, glue will work. I’ll make some glue tomorrow morning, and just fix all your teeth and nails. That should solve the problems before they start.”
He rolled over and kissed her, long and slow, as he brushed his fingertips over her cheek, revelling in his hands’ renewed freedom. “Thank you…” he whispered. “Thank you so much…”
She smiled, returning his kisses. When he eventually pulled back, enamoured with the feeling of his own teeth, she frowned and asked, “Is the rotting smell stronger? It seems stronger, but that doesn’t make any sense…”
“I...maybe?” Aldern said with some concern. “I’ve just...tuned it out entirely. Was it supposed to change?”
“It should have gotten weaker…” she said quietly, absorbed in thought. “Unless...unless you were suppressing it somehow...Were you suppressing it?”
“...Maybe?” he seemed confused. 
“Was that another ability altogether…?” she mused. “...No, it shouldn’t be...That’s...hrmmm, I’ll have to figure this out quickly…”
Aldern looked concerned now, worrying about what he didn’t understand. “Why? What is it?” He shifted to sit up more slightly, “Did something go wrong?”
“No no!” she said quickly, her gaze returning to him. “No, I just...didn’t think about how you were controlling the smell, so it wasn’t overpowering all the time. Do you know how you were doing it?”
“No? I just...just didn’t want to smell…” he said slowly, thinking very hard about something he had obviously never considered before. “Why?” She pursed her lips, thinking herself, so he asked again, “Why does it matter?”
There was a bit of a pause as she looked sheepish. Eventually, she said, “Well...because I took it.” He looked at her, lacking any understanding, so she sighed and lifted up her hand, showing the claws that he apparently hadn’t noticed, “I took them. The claws, the fangs, the smell, and the thing that made you frightening to animals. The noticeable stuff, that you didn’t want.”
Slowly, he blinked as understanding dawned on him. He reached out and took her hand, staring at it as the exact nature of what she had done became clear. “Oh...Luna, you…” He sighed and looked at her; she had turned away somewhat, seeming ashamed and expecting reprimand. “I...I thought…they would just go away...”
“I was purposefully misleading with my words, yes,” she said bluntly.
“...You knew I’d argue…” he said sadly. “You knew, so you didn’t tell me.”
“You didn’t want them, and I didn’t care, so I did it,” she said, her voice slightly sharp as she pulled away, crossing her arms over her chest. He continued to look at her remorsefully, so she added, “You never asked to be undead. It’s not fair that you have to be less human when you didn’t want it, and so now you’re closer to looking the way you want. I don’t care what I look like, and I don’t like animals, so it’s fine. It was a net benefit.” He sighed heavily, closing his eyes and shaking his head. The silence between them was thick. Eventually, she asked quietly, “Are you mad?”
He sighed again, before shaking his head, “...No. No, I’m not.”
Aldern leaned over and wrapped his arms about her, and she settled back slightly into him. After a minute of hesitation, Luna said very quietly, barely audible, “Please...don’t leave me...when I’m a lot less human than you…”
He pulled her in more tightly, and spoke into her hair, “Never. I’ll be wherever you want me to be. Forever.” She rolled over and pressed her face into his chest, burying herself in his shirt fabric. 
Category:Rise of the Runelords