Lyn:
I found myself with some time in town to play with my new abilities, no supervision, and a newfound love of explosives. By Emett’s own admission, he couldn’t get particularly upset so long as I kept myself from being arrested. So what was I to do with this?
I roamed around town until I found a nice, secluded alley to hunker down in, all the better to explore the gifts I had been given. I pulled a bomb out of my basket, examining it in the orange glow of the setting sun. An instinctual knowledge of engineering that had not existed yesterday flooded my mind.
Hard to throw, inaccurate as hell, and about the weakest form of explosive I could think of, short of just throwing gunpowder followed by a match at something. It would need some upgrades, but I would have to talk to the Engineer’s Guild at the Capital before making any big adjustments. They seemed to be powerful enough to get us there, anyway.
Still, I wondered if there were any other uses I could get out of it. If Emett was upset about Hey, Catch!, I can’t imagine he’d be incredibly pleased with some of the other abilities I got.
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My hand glowed for a moment, then the bomb followed suit. The bomb began dissolving, with three separate flows of particles arranging themselves into discrete places on the ground. After a moment, it was finished. The bomb was gone, and I was left with a chunk of iron, a fuse, and a small pile of gunpowder.
Interesting.
I repeated the process on a few more bombs, growing my hoard. As I did so, an idea crossed my mind. A mostly nondestructive use for these materials, if I was able to get a couple more things.In the meantime, I did have what I needed for one component of this.
I grabbed a few of the chunks of iron, holding them in my hands. It seemed like it would be enough, though if I needed more, I had an essentially unlimited supply. Holding them, I activated my last ability.
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A Notice appeared before me, startling me a little bit. Everything I had done up to this point had been very intuitive, so being met with this now was somewhat concerning, to say the least. A lot of these options I wouldn’t be able to get my hands on the materials for, but it was nice to know once we hit the Capital and got some money I’d be able to get my hands on some decent firepower. A lot of these options would also be terrible at the goal of not being arrested. But...there was one I would be able to pull off. All I’d need is some paper and some dye, which sounded right to me. I dismissed the Notice to begin my hunt for materials.
A stroll through the market led me to the stall of a merchant who had not yet started taking down his wares for the night.
“Gecher dyes here! Tired of everything being brown and boring?” The man shouted for attention, an unending litany of dye colors. “I got dyes! Celestial Blue! Midnight Blue! Many more!”
I approached the man. “I have a mutually beneficial proposal for you.”You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.
The man jumped, clearly startled by my presence. “Where did you come from, you little shadow runt?”
“You see,” I began, “when a mommy shadowbeast and a daddy shadowbeast love each other very much-”
“What? No, not that literally. Just...what do you want, little girl?” He looked me over, his eyes catching on my cloak. “Tired of being attacked by wolves?”
“No, I want access to some of your dyes for an experiment, and I think I can make your presentation much more striking in the process.” Everyone’s superstition about my cloak was grating on my nerves. I’d only been attacked by wolves once.
The man let out a strong, full-bellied laugh. “How are you planning to do that?”
“How would you like to paint the sky?” I smirked as I asked him.
“That would be interesting,” he said, “if you could do it.”
“Give me one bit of dye and some paper, and I’ll show you how it’s done.” I was fairly sure I had him. It was going to be a good night. “You like it, we continue. You don’t, I head on my way.”
“Deal.” He said, and passed me a small vial and a piece of paper. Excellent.
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The first step would be to form some of this iron into a hollow tube with a nice base, to create whatever this ‘Mortar’ item is. The paper and dye were mixed with some gunpowder and a fuse to create a ‘Firework’, the firework went into the mortar, and…
Fwoomp.
There was an explosion of light and color in the sky, met with some screams from the still-bustling market, and some awe. This went even better than I expected.
“As I said, I could add some spectacle to your pitch.” I could not keep the smugness out of my voice and off my face.
“You sure were right. I’ll help you make some more of those.” The man sounded impressed, if a bit worried. “Was the maniacal giggling absolutely necessary, though?”
I hadn’t realized I had been giggling. I’d lean into it anyway. “It was absolutely essential to get it all to work.”
He handed me some more materials, and stopped his ceaseless shouting, content to make conversation with me between customers. It probably wasn’t the best he could leverage this, but I didn’t mind, either. I was getting the explosions I craved. “So I assume you’re either in the Engineering Guild or working towards it?”
“Yes, as of very recently.” I answered him, around my work. “My brother and I are actually on our way to the Capital for that, among other reasons.”
“May I ask what other reasons, if it’s not too sensitive?” he asked. “You seem a bit young to be pushing for entry into a Guild just yet.”
“I was chosen to be The Armsmaster.” I said.
The man looked shocked for a moment, but composed himself quickly. “I guess that makes sense. I’ve never seen anyone able to make engineered doodads like that so quickly, especially without training with the Engineers.”
“Do you mean normal people can’t just sort of magic things apart and back together?” I asked, feigning surprise. “I never would have guessed.”
The man smirked. “So I’m thinking I can use this situation to our mutual advantage. I had been planning on packing up and moving into the Capital in the next few days, but there’s been some Apostate activity on the road lately. I’m willing to leave early if you’ll come with us, to protect us in case of a raid.”
I thought about this. “It could be more dangerous. We’re likely to make you a larger target to them than if you were on the road alone.”
“Sure,” the man conceded, “but I’m willing to bet you’re more than a match for them alone.”
“I’d have to talk to my brother about it,” I said. “So you get protection, but you said there would be mutual benefits. What’s in it for us?”
“Two things, really,” the man said. “I already have a few mercenary guards hired - I’d be willing to pass them into your service when we arrive, to help you in whatever endeavours follow. I’ve paid them quite a sum, they’ll more than likely agree.”
“That could come in handy,” I said. “The second thing?”
“You’d ride in a carriage instead of walking,” he said.
“I’ll inform my brother we’ll be travelling with you tomorrow,” I held out my hand to shake. “I’m Lyn, by the way.”
The man grabbed my hand firmly. “Gustav. It’s a pleasure doing business with you, Armsmaster Lyn.”