Chapter 64: Chapter 64 Guns and Blades

Nathan stood in front of the majority of the Guardians of Gemore and the Heirs. He rubbed his hands together, psyching himself up to introduce their presentation on firearms.

“Let’s get started. We’re here to present a new kind of weapon that I’ve been working on with Beatred, Poppy and Herdin for a while now. It’s something from my home, and I think it will be a valuable weapon in Sarah’s arsenal that will complement her build well. This weapon is the primary armament in my home, to such an extent that other kinds of weapons are comparatively rare.”

He paused to ensure that he had everybody’s full attention, then gestured towards where Beatred and Poppy were standing next to the table of guns. “Of course, I only had the Insight of this weapon, I didn’t have the skill or skills to make it. Beatred Bho and Poppy Miri did all the hard work here, and Herdin Bho handled the enchanting. I must say, they did a fabulous job recreating something that I only remembered. Much of the credit should go to them, and at this point they can make more by themselves. Though they will need my permission.”

The dark-skinned enchanter heckled from the audience, where she was already sipping on a dark blue cocktail. “Blasphemously lucky of you I was bored.”

Nathan raised an eyebrow at her. “I seem to remember you thanking me for a new challenge. Anyway, Beatred’s the one who’s done most of the testing, and I don’t want to touch the weapon because it’s enchanted, so she’ll demonstrate.”

He waved Beatred forward, and she grabbed the bag of guns. Poppy hoisted cases of ammunition for both the rifle and the revolvers before following.

Nathan sat down in the viewing area, next to Stella. Sarah was in front of them, paying rapt attention. Stella leaned in and whispered to him. “After all this, it better be a weapon fit to wake the giants.”

Nathan smirked as Beatred stopped, putting down the bag and fishing out a revolver. She turned towards them. “Can I get a target? Something sturdy for practicing ranged attacks on. And with a backstop.”

Kullal gestured, and a man-shaped mannequin of dark wood flew out of a closet, settling on the far side of the room. Then an inclined plane of force materialized behind it.

Beatred looked nervously at the target. “This weapon is hard to explain, so I will demonstrate.” Poppy had popped open the box of revolver ammunition and handed her six rounds before backing up out of the way.

Beatred loaded the rounds quickly, almost dropping one. Then she turned to the dummy, aimed down the barrel and pulled the trigger. There was a muffled bang and a cloud of smoke, but the burly blacksmith didn’t stop. She pulled the trigger again and again in rapid succession until she’d emptied all six bullets into the dummy. It was only thirty feet away, and she didn’t miss a single shot.

There was a moment of silence, then Dalo waved his own hand, causing the smoke to suck down to a point. The dummy shot across the room, coming to rest before the audience. One bullet had made a mess of its head, while the rest had impacted center mass and turned it to a cratered mess of kindling. Nathan was a bit surprised the bullets hadn’t penetrated all the way through the wooden dummy.

Stanel spoke up quietly. “That’s Everoak, isn’t it?”

At Dalo’s answered nod, the [Weaponmaster] looked impressed. “Can I see the weapon?” He held out his hand, but Beatred shook her head jerkily.

“We’re not done.”

Then she pulled out the rifle, and Stanel’s gaze intensified as she loaded a single round. Kullal summoned another dummy while Beatred aimed down the length of the long gun. She leaned forward into the recoil as she fired, but still staggered slightly at the sharp crack of the big cartridge.

The dummy’s head exploded. The bullet ricocheted off the angled plane of force and left behind a crack in the spell. It bounced a few more times before burying itself in the solid railing that separated the arena from the viewing area. Nathan winced. He was glad that ricochet hadn't hit anybody.

Stanel’s jaw dropped, and he breathed out a single word.

“Extraordinary.”

Stanel was staring in rapt fascination at the rifle in Beatred’s hands. Then he turned to address Kia. “Good bet.” He pulled out a wide, flat disk about nine inches across and flicked it towards the tall woman.

She snapped out a gauntleted hand to catch the disk with a snort. Then the tall woman turned to display the object to Nathan. The surface of the disk was intricately enchanted, with a large gem glowing white in the middle. Seven crystals were spaced along the outside edge, each glowing a different color. She explained briefly before tucking it away. “It’s a recharge disk. Kalis Conclave item that can recharge near any enchantment.”

Nathan blinked. “Did you bet that Stanel wouldn’t know the weapon?”

Kia nodded. “Yes. You have the sharpness of a good blade. I did not think you would be wrong with this.”

Nathan turned to Stanel. “You gave me the money for this project! You didn’t think I could do it?”

Stanel had a slight grin on his face. “I figured you’d come up with something useful to Sarah, and that a gift from a friend weighed differently than a gift from a father. Besides, I thought I might be wrong! And I was!” He gestured to the rifle, then stepped towards the arena with his hand outstretched. “How does it work?” he asked Beatred.

The copper-skinned man’s advance was blocked by a hand like a gnarled branch.

Herdin was standing in his way. “Now that you’re all lit and flaring, it’s time for me to dump some water on the fire. These weapons have some true Insights behind them. We’ll tell you the basics of how they work, but not the details. And I’ll imprint the weapons to your daughter here, with a curse activating if anybody else wields them or tries to take them apart.

Sarah had also stood, and was stepping towards Beatred. “Yeah, dad. These weapons are for me, not for you. Thank you Herdin, Nathan, Beatred, Poppy. I look forward to holding them in my own hands.”

She brushed past her father, who was looking forlorn. His hands made little graspy gestures down near his side.

Then Herdin’s stern expression cracked into a broad smile. “We can do the imprinting later, after you can weigh them in your own hands. Then you can order some of your own. We've already agreed to make you some if you want them. For now, let your daughter try out her new toy.”

Kullal was frowning as she inspected first the bullet embedded in the railing, then the crack in the force wall. She dismissed the force wall and sat for a moment before turning to Stella. “Stella, can you figure out an appropriate backstop that won’t send pieces of metal flying back at us?”

Stella looked a little blindsided. “Uh.”

Nathan was sitting in between Stella and her mom. He turned so the foxfolk could only see the back of his head and mouthed a word at Stella. “Dirt”.

Stella caught his silent motion and narrowed her eyes in thought. Then she snapped her fingers and spent ten seconds working through a spell before casting. A mound of conjured earth appeared on the other end of the arena. It only covered about a quarter of the back wall.

Dalo seemed to think it was a good idea, and with a wave of his hand more conjured dirt showered down to cover the entire back wall.

Beatred had been explaining the operation and terminology of the revolvers to Sarah. She showed her how the mechanism worked and gestured at the back of the cartridge and the enchanted hammer on the back of the gun. She loaded one revolver and had Sarah load the other one, before showing her the speedloaders and demonstrating their use. Beatred had Sarah keep the guns pointed downrange at all times with her finger off the trigger, which reminded Nathan of something.

You know, I just realized we never built a safety onto those things. Hmm. At least Beatred’s got the rudiments of gun safety and trigger discipline already figured out.

Sarah was extremely focused on the instruction, trying not to miss a single detail as Beatred explained with occasional interjections from Poppy. After just a few minutes Sarah was smoothly handling the revolvers as if she’d been using them for years. She loaded and unloaded the cylinders, then aimed and mimed firing with an empty chamber. She examined the box of bullets to see how many rounds she could afford to play with.

Then she carefully loaded each revolver and took one in each hand. She stood in the center of the room. Kullal conjured some small targets, some of which bobbed back and forth. They looked like small colored [Force blocks], but… almost insubstantial.

Sarah took a deep breath and raised one revolver. Her first shot cracked apart a stationary target, and she paused to assess the shot, frowning over the feeling of recoil.

Then she raised the gun again and fired quickly, hitting a target with every bullet. As soon as the gun in one hand was empty she raised the other hand and resumed firing, quickly tearing her way through the targets.

I guess that answers the question. Her class and skills definitely apply to guns.

She’d holstered the first revolver while firing the second. As soon as the second gun ran dry, she flipped out the cylinder and shook out the empty casings. Her other hand came up and tried to slap a speedloader home, but fumbled it and sent the rounds falling to the ground.

Nathan winced, hoping none of them went off. None did.

Right. No primers. You need to stick something thin and hot through the paper to set them off - and basically only the enchanted hammer fits the bill. That probably makes them a lot less likely to discharge accidentally.

Dalo repeated his trick to get rid of the smoke, and Sarah stuck the guns into her pouches, beaming.

She turned to Nathan and bowed deeply. “This is a true gift, Nathan Lark. I will treasure this day until the Ending.”

Nathan didn’t know how to respond and just nodded back with a broad smile on his face.

Everybody else seemed thrilled with the display. Nothing else would suffice but for Sarah to try out the rifle.

Nathan explained that it was meant for longer distances. Beatred chipped in that she hadn’t been able to properly calibrate the sights in her workshop, since she hadn’t wanted to go into Old Gemore to properly test the range. She showed Sarah how the front sight was actually clamped onto the barrel, and could be moved around slightly to properly calibrate it.

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Zeroing? Ah, whatever.

But Sarah didn’t seem worried. She had skills that enhanced accuracy and power of ranged weapons in general, and they seemed to apply to guns too.

She squeezed off a few shots, getting the feel for the recoil. Nathan advised her to pull the trigger smoothly, not jerk it and throw off her aim.

Eventually, Stanel got his turn. He took a revolver in each hand, and sighed, closing his eyes as he just held the weapons. “Oh yes. This is a good weapon. I think I will want several of these. They're so quick, I don’t even need to draw my arm back. Just track from target to target.” The [Weaponmaster] swept the guns across imaginary targets in a complex pattern. “I wonder if… well. Time will tell how compatible these are with my skills.”

Then he picked up the rifle, repeating the process where he closed his eyes. “Indeed, truly a weapon worthy of a Questor. This rifle might make me put down my Edrani sharpshot bow.” He hesitated. “For some things.“ He cracked his eyelids open and looked to Herdin. “I see some enchanted rounds over there. May I ask?”

Herdin smirked, the expression looking very natural on the crotchety old woman. “Indeed. I could guess that you would ask for enchanted ammunition. You’ll like them. Explosive and penetrating. The explosive should only explode inside the target, and I think the penetrating rifle round would go through a Siegeboar the long way. Before skills are applied.”

Stanel rubbed his hands together. “I’ll be dropping by the shop tomorrow. Should I come to Beatred’s place?”

At her encouraging nod, he looked down at the weapons. “And I think I’ll place an order for more ammunition for these weapons, for Sarah.”

Finally, his attention turned to Nathan. “And Nathan, I think Sarah, and I, owe you a favor for this. For the gift of a new and powerful weapon to my daughter, and for teaching the crafters of Gemore a new type of weapon, however restricted it must be.”

Nathan nodded, looking to Kia. His implication was obvious. She tilted her head from side to side, then spoke.

“Stanel and I will speak of this later. I am inclined to agree, but I recall you mentioned another possibility?” She gestured towards Stella with a questioning look.

Stella looked flustered. “I-I don’t know yet. It’s helpful, but we aren’t done yet.”

Kia hmmed. “Then, we will speak more after the graduation ceremony, when you are done. I have not shared my Airwalking insight with any, and I would wait for the Adventurer's Oath.”

After that, there were a few more things to take care of, mostly involving Herdin. She imprinted the weapons to Sarah, warning everybody not to touch them. It would take a little bit of handling by somebody else to set off the self-destruct, but better not to risk it.

Additionally, Herdin looked over the swords that Nathan had broken the curse on. She was surprised by whatever she saw, and called over Dalo and Kullal to take a look as well. After looking over the sword, Dalo shot Nathan a gauging look. Aarl hovered nearby, clearly anxious for the verdict on his swords.

While Herdin, Dalo and Kullal conversed over the sword, Nathan looked around for the other members of the Heirs. Sarah was talking to Poppy, but Stella and Khachi came over. They chatted about the new weapons, with Khachi scheming about having a truly long range option for the team, and wondering if they could force most foes into attacking them. Stella seemed relaxed and pleased, glad that her friends were upgrading their firepower.

Then Herdin came forth, holding the swords. “The primary enchantment on these swords are still intact. It's an impressively simple but powerful mana channeling enchantment. The basic strengthening enchantments on the blades are also still active. Most of the grip-specific enchantments are dead - but they were stupid ones anyway. What kind of fool needs to burn mana to hold onto their sword? Or keep their hands dry?” Herdin shook her head, seeming disappointed in the sweaty-palmed long-dead Mage-lord.

Then she returned back to task. “The swords are ready to use, and the craftsmanship is… acceptable. Especially for Sklian blades. The materials are excellent, and the edge itself is made of manaforged mithril for the enchantment to work through. I would almost recommend breaking them down for component parts to get a new pair of swords made, but this channeling enchantment is surprisingly versatile.”

She paused, offering the swords to Aarl. “However, you should choose what kind of mana you want imbued. They don’t come with a self-recharge, so you will need them manually recharged by a mage with the appropriate mana types.” Aarl took the blades, and Herdin gestured towards Stella.

“The channeling enchantment is best with non-elemental mana, though less-substantial elements like fire or air would work. I would not recommend water, earth, wood or life. I think air mana would just send a gust of wind with every swing, pushing everything away from the blade. Fire would heat the blade and burn all it touches, but would do little for the penetrative power of the blade. Shadow would mimic the original death mana, but be better for destroying armor and worse at disintegrating flesh.”

Stella frowned at the swords that Aarl was busy examining. “What about force, or lightning? Or light?”

Herdin looked surprised at Stella’s question. “You are young to have all those powerful mana types.” Then she shrugged. “But it is not my role to question your secrets. Force would be good - it would extend the blade with a blade of force which would cut like a high-tier force spell. The sword itself would become nearly impossible to break. Lightning would give a strong shock and blast back any target the blade touched. The effect would be strong, as all lightning spells are, but it would drain the mana storage of the blade quickly. It is a large mana storage, and as long as it could be recharged frequently that might be very effective.”

The old woman paused and frowned. “As for light… I have not worked with many light enchantments. It would likely let off a blinding burst of light with every strike, and might duplicate some of the burning effects of a fire imbuement. I am not sure.”

At that, Kullal got everybody’s attention with a quiet but very clear flashing chime. “This has been very exciting, but we are late for dinner. Let us go eat!”

—

The rest of the dinner was a lot of fun - Nathan enjoyed hanging out with the Guardians. They were self-confident and cool, and the mood was celebratory. Nathan got toasted a few times, along with Beatred and the other crafters.

Stanel seemed in a grand mood, mentioning multiple times that he expected Sarah and Aarl to start making their names now that they had worthy weapons.

Sarah made a joke about potentially angling her level 81 class Development to focus on guns. It was the kind of joke that probes the waters, testing for the response. Stanel looked thoughtful, but didn’t shoot down the idea.

Huh. Interesting.

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