Spear of Destiny by James Baldwin (little bear else holmelund minarik .TXT) 📕

“What’s the bad news?” Rin looked over at me from her notes.

“According to this book, at least, the kind of sonic weapons needed to take out a full-grown sandworm haven’t existed since the Aesari Wars,” I replied. “It says here that the Aesari almost wiped out the sandworms, because the worms desertified the entire Shalid region and were threatening to spread north. But after the war had passed and the Aesari died out, sandworms began reappearing in the Bashir. They only stick to that one place now, but they make travelling over the desert dangerous and they prohibit the formation of settlements.”

“Mmm. Well, I’m sure we can figure something out. A small army has an adjusted level higher than a single Level 120 monster.” Rin closed the book she was reading and sighed. “These books don’t have any information on the Warsingers to speak of. I’ve learned a lot about Meewfolk history, though. The Meewfolk were nearly annihilated by the Drachan and Aesari Wars, just like the Solonkratsu. The damage was so severe that their historians can only speculate on the scale of the destruction.”

“Then I’m not convinced there’s any schematics left to find,” I said. “Wars can wipe out entire cultures.”

“I have faith they still exist, because I did find one important lead in these volumes, and that’s the Avatar of the Meewfolk.” Rin lay her silvery hand on top of the cover.

“Are they blue and nine feet tall?” I asked. “My grandpa showed me an old flat-screen movie called Avatar that had huge blue cat people in it once. I may or may not have decided I wanted to become a dragon rider because of that film.”

“Huh?” Rin picked at her lip. “Umm… no. The Avatar isn’t blue. They’re hairless, actually, according to these books. Every now and then, a child is born without fur, and they consider those children to be sacred. They’re trained as knowledge keepers in a special temple. This book says that the knowledge of the Meewfolk must always be written on skin. For lesser knowledge, such as these books, preserved dolphin skin is sufficient, but the Meewfolk inscribe their deepest knowledge and secrets on the living skin of the Avatars, passed from generation to generation. Meewfolk have a deep taboo against tattooing, but these knowledge keepers seem to be an exception. When they wrote these books about five hundred and a hundred and fifty years ago, they recorded that the Avatar line has remained unbroken since the time of the Drachan.”

“Huh.” I looked down at the books curiously. “Riiiight. So the Avatar might have the schematics. They might even have the blueprints written on them.”

“Yes. Exactly!” Rin wiggled happily. “I think we’ll be able to find instructions for the Warsinger if we can get access to the current Avatar. To do that, I guess we’ll have to go there and find out how.”

“Right,” I said. “And you think we’ll be able to replace the part that Ororgael took from Withering Rose? The Heartstone?”

“Maybe? I know those stones contain the spirit of a Drachan, but not much more than that. The phenomenon of binding spirits into phylacteries isn’t something that’s done very often nowadays.” Rin said. “And why use a Drachan to provide animation for the Warsingers, anyway? That’s such a weird choice for the engine core. There’s just so much we don’t know.”

I grunted. “I’m worried that Ororgael has found some way to let the Drachan out of Withering Rose’s Heartstone. Even one of those motherfuckers would be devastating at this stage, if he unleashed it on an unprepared world.”

“I don’t see how he could. If it’s just a Drachan’s spirit or essence in that thing, then it should be absorbed into the Caul of Souls if it’s released.” Rin jogged her feet under the edge of the desk, jittering with nervous energy. “Anyway, we won’t have a solution until we go see someone who can answer our questions, and it looks like our best shot is the current Avatar of Meewhome. I’ll go speak with Ebisa and see if I can arrange passage for us. It might cost us a lot, but if anyone knows how to get an audience with someone as important as the Avatar, it’s her.”

Chapter 33

With the first round of money sitting in the KMS, it was time to do something I’d wanted to do for months: clean out my Inventory, replenish all my necessary tools, and get better gear. While Rin went to go deal with Ebisa, Suri and I linked up and hit the markets.

The best place to get gear tips in Taltos was at the Temple of Khors. Most Vlachians worshipped Khors exclusively, relegating the other gods of the Nine to support roles or ignoring them as myths. The God of the Forge had temples, a university, faith-militant training centers, and countless workshops in the city. Suri and I both had a pretty good reputation with the priests, thanks to our role in solving the murders of several members of clergy. We were able to speak to the new Arch-Smith, add some new map markers to our HUD, and set off without wasting a whole lot of time.

We went to pick up weapons for Suri first, at a player-run store named Bear’s Anvil. Bear, an Artificer, was more than happy to sell Suri a new Very Large Sword™, a black-edged blade with a red-bound hilt named Warmonger’s Misery. It packed 677-714 damage, and it gave Suri an extra 3% head-chopping bonus that stacked with her vorpal combat ability, Gorgon Overdrive. He also tried to sell her a scale-mail bikini that had more AC than her full plate. I was keen, but Suri wasn’t buying.

After that, we rode Cutthroat to the Tanner’s District, to an obscure little Mercurion armor boutique that was little more than a market stand in front of a much larger smithy