Heinrich Zeigler's Charge came in with preternatural speed, slashing out with deadly amber-sheathed claws that I was forced to parry with my Wan-Shen, drawing on the force to enhance my parrying polearm with Matukai techniques. Each claw swipe was parried with a blow that was also a counter-strike, my Valyrian Steel, Force-Imbued, Mightstone-Enhanced, weapon cutting into hands that were part-bear paw and part-human hand. Unfortunately, the thick, bristly, leather-like, hide deflected the brunt of my attacks, clearly some sort of defensive spell, and one of the higher quality ones to boot. It was more likely he had cast Pann's Impenetrable Hide than something like the Boar's Hide. Either way, his Amber Talons were still deadly and needed to be trimmed. I lashed out, trying to imbue a combination of Chi and the Force into the blade of my Wan-Shen as I attempted to clip his nails.
My whirling strike smashed into Heinrich's right paw, the energies imbued into my weapon causing the Amber Talons to crack and chip, before reversing my strike and hitting the claws again. This time, the blade shattered the amber-sheathed talons, causing Heinrich to roar in pain. My psychic abilities warned me just in time to largely avoid a sudden swipe Heinrich sent at me with his un-damaged left claws. My last-minute dodge turned a disemboweling strike into a glancing blow as the claws just barely grazed my right shoulder, cutting a quartet of bloody furrows down from my shoulder to my right pec. Fortunately, the wound was shallow thanks to my dodging and I brought my Wan-Shen back around and cut out vertically at the overextended Amber Talon-enhanced claws of Heinrich's left arm.
The blade of my Wan-Shen bit down on the claws, cracking the Amber and causing another bellow, though this one was laced with a thunderous, mystical rebuke filled with all the fury of a hunting beast. Thankfully, my Primary Mutation shielded my mind from the Amber Magic meant to make me cower like a prey animal and I let out a similar burst of sound with Phonomancy that burst Heinrich's Eardrums with sound pressure. He stumbled away, equilibrium gone and balance ruined, allowing me to smash my Wan-Shen back down on his remaining Amber Claws, shattering them and disarming him in a more literal fashion than was normally meant. In response, Heinrich snarled out another spell, conjuring an Amber Sphere of pure magic that he hurled at me with all his considerable might.
I managed to parry the flung Amber Spear with my Wan-Shen mere seconds before it would have struck me thanks to my Chi-Enhanced Reflexes and Matukai Techniques, but it was merely a distraction for the follow-on charge. Heinrich let out another bellow laced with the power of the spell of Cowering Beasts, which broke against the mental defenses of my Primary Mutation like waves against the shore, but dropped down to all fours and charged at me as he did so. Seven hundred pounds of mystically enhanced bear man charged into me, bowling me over with a charging body check even as my Wan-Shen went spinning out of my hands. Claws, thankfully not enhanced with Amber Talons, tore into my chest as Heinrich's fang-filled maw bit into my shoulder, adding puncture wounds to my left shoulder even as my ribs were bruised from the body check.
Fortunately, the wounds were survivable if I could get the Bear Man off of me, which was easier than it would otherwise be, thanks to the primal fury coursing through Heinrich's mind. He wasn't thinking rationally, preferring to just maul me instead of fighting like someone who knew how to fight. I was able to roll with him using Jiu-Jitsu and wrestle my way into a superior position. I seized his upper jaw in my right hand, and his lower jaw in my left and began to pry them apart so he couldn't bite down on me once again. Slowly, ever so slowly, I forced his jaws apart, buoyed by the powers of my Magic, Chi, and the Force. As his jaws parted wider and wider apart, I could sense the fear coming off of him with my Psychic powers just as his jaws reached the point of no return.
There was a cracking noise as I snapped his jaws off the hinge before using the breathing room from that to pull my Meteoric Iron Phurba Dagger out of my bag of holding and shove the point through his eye. Heinrich twitched once, twice, then stilled as his brain was punctured. In death, he reverted to the form of a long-bearded old man with a number of amber charms braided into his wild mane of hair and a brown leather robe trimmed in fur. I immediately began using Alakhestry and Matukai healing techniques to heal my ribs, chest, and shoulders from the bruises, slashes, and punctures of the fight. As I finished that and moved to grab my Wan-Shen, I was greeted by my powers latching onto Heinrich's corpse to absorb the ability to cast Amber Magic. I let it happen, as my body began to adapt the Ghur into itself.
With that, I tossed Heinrich's corpse for any loot, coming out with a pouch of thirty Gold Coins, mixed between Ostlandic Bulls, Imperial Crowns, and Kislevite Ducats, a series of amber charms braided into his hair, a Baselard-style Short Sword of bronze that had an antler handle wrapped in red leather, and a necklace of amber beads, feathers, bear teeth, wolf teeth, horse hair, and boar tusks. The last two glowed with power to my Third Eye. All went into my bag of holding for later perusal. Just off the top of my head, I figured I might be able to get some use out of the magical items and could sell the amber charms and coins. Now, though, I had to figure out where I was.
Looking around the room I'd entered, which appeared to be some kind of cellar. There were several barrels of unidentified liquids stocked along one wall, while another wall opened up into what appeared to be a mine shaft that went deep underground, deep enough that the Sea was in no danger of seeping through from above. A fourth wall was covered in stacked crates, while the last had a number of racks filled with bottles of wine and whiskey leading up to a stone staircase cut into the wall. One of the racks had been tipped over and the bottle smashed on the stone floor, likely by an agitated Bear Man, but there were still enough bottles of liquor and wine un-smashed that it'd take me at least a year to drink them all.
Frowning I looked from the mine entrance to the staircase before remembering that Bartholomew had said that the Tower would send me where I needed to go either way. All I had to do was pick a direction and start heading down it. I wasn't sure when that would kick in though. If it kicked in when I left the room, would the mine shaft count as separate from the cellar? I had no idea and if that was the case, it might be a better plan to pick the staircase going up, especially if it kicked in by floor instead of by room. Shrugging, I started making my way up the stairs, only to turn the corner at the landing and find myself suddenly in a long hallway with a number of portraits and marble statues lining the hallway.
"Where the hell would this be? I get the whole Labyrinthine defense, but there's no room for this long stretch of hallway in the building. Did Labyrinthine also mean that the tower was Tardised up?" I wondered.
I wouldn't have time to answer before my Psychic Powers warned me to dodge. I threw myself to the side as a fat yellow bolt of energy streaked out for me, just passing by me as I vacated the space I'd been standing in previously. The bolt struck one of the statues and utterly demolished it, sending rock dust and chips of marble everywhere. As I stood up and pulled my Wan-Shen, a blue-skinned, Female, Twi'lek in a modified suit of blue and gray armored robes, a technological headband, a black technological belt, a pair of dark green gloves, and wielding a heavily modified, blocky, Mandalorian Heavy Blaster Pistol appeared in a flash of light.
"Heh, thought I had you. Matukai, huh? I've killed one of you before. This won't be any different, even if the Hutts thought otherwise." Scoffed the Twi'lek.
Before I could tell her that I wasn't with the Hutts, however, I was forced to parry with my Wan-Shen as a trio of Marble Busts streaked out at me from their plinths, courtesy of Zeison Sha telekinesis. I carved one apart with the blade of my Wan-Shen only for both halves to keep coming at me, forcing me to parry in a flurry of movement. The busts came in again and again, and using my Matukai Parries only made more projectiles for the Twi'lek. Eventually, one of them caught me in the head, cutting open my scalp with telekinetic force, but smashing to powder in the process. I staggered to the side, just as two other pieces slammed into my left and right floating ribs, bruising both. The Force and my Psychic powers screamed at me to duck and I fell on my ass in time to avoid another blaster bolt. In came the remaining statue fragments, forcing me to cast a shield that they shattered on.
As I stood, I realized my opponent had vanished from sight and the Force, thanks to what was probably a stealth unit that she had at her belt along with the ability to cloak her presence in the Force. Fortunately, my Psychic Powers were able to warn me in time to avoid another yellow blaster bolt as I threw myself to the side, watching the bolt explode another statue, the head of which streaked out at me from the side and slammed into my knee, bruising it. It tried to come around for another pass but I conjured another shield to block it, leaping at where my Psychic powers told me that the Twi'lek was and striking out for her.
The blade of my Wan-Shen smashed into the plating on her armored robes, knocking her out of stealth, but failed to penetrate. However, the breath had been knocked out of her by the force of the blow and slammed her into another statue. The Statue toppled down onto her from behind, and she was forced to throw up a telekinetic shield to avoid being bowled over and trapped. I charged for her, only for her to reach out and telekinetically grab a hold of my legs to stick me in place. The statue she'd held up off of her was then flung at me, forcing me to conjure a shield to block the blow. The statue broke in half around my mystic shield and both halves fell against the far wall of the hallway.
The Twi'lek pointed her Mandalorian Blaster at me, still grabbing onto my feet with a telekinetic grip that I was struggling to break out of, and smirked at me. "Game over!" She grinned.
As she taunted me, however, I pointed with one hand and conjured a tendril of water out of the moisture in the air with hydromancy. That tendril wrapped around her arm and pulled just as she squeezed the trigger, causing her blaster bolt to go wide and destroy another statue, meanwhile, I conjured a blast of flame with Pyromancy that cooked her face with my other hand. The flames washed over her face, boiling her eyes in their sockets and burning the flesh off her skull but leaving her equipment remarkably unharmed, a testament to the dangers of not wearing a helmet. The Twi'lek dropped the the floor, screaming silently as her brain boiled inside her skull and Lekku, before dying. The telekinetic vice that stuck me in place vanished and I let out a breath.
Once more, I began healing myself with a combination of Alakhestry and Matukai techniques, healing the bruised bones and cuts on my scalp. When I was finished, I checked the Twi'lek for loot, even as I felt my powers latch onto hers, beginning to integrate Zeison-Sha telekinetic techniques and the technique she used to cloak her force presence into my own powers, starting to adapt from only having Matukai techniques to also having Zeison-Sha ones as well. For equipment, there was the Modified Mandalorian Heavy Blaster Pistol, the Modified Zeison-Sha Warrior's Armor, the Stealth Unit, which was an Aratech Echo Unit, the Zeison-Sha Gloves, a burned Matukai Meditation Band, and a credstick.
Using my powers of Comprehension, I could also not only repair any of the damaged equipment but could make new equipment of the same kind with Reconstruction. I also learned that the credstick had twenty-thousand credits on it, the armor was modified with Mark Three Ballistic Shielding and a Mark Five Armorweave Underlay, and that the Mandalorian Heavy Blaster Pistol was modified with a Mark Four Targeting Scope, a Mark Five Power Pulsator, and a Mark Three Mandalorian Chamber. I could also tell that she had a Physical Boost D-Package Implant enhancing her physical capabilities that I was now able to make more of with Reconstruction powers.
That was one Hell of an Arsenal, enough firepower to really hurt if I'd been hit with a blaster bolt, enough physical capability to keep up with me, if not match me, Stealth Capability, plus with the Armor, the Twi'lek had been heavily protected from blasters, disruptors, bowcasters, slugthrowers, vibroweapons, and archaic melee weapons. I could see exactly why the Hutts on Teth had wanted her dead or working for them. That was a lot of dangerous tech to leave with a wildcard.
"Shame about not wearing a helmet, you might have been able to beat me with one." I said to the corpse.
Putting all the salvaged gear in my Bag of Holding for later, I shrugged, saying, "Pride seems to be a weakness of a lot of Force Users. Probably a bit of vanity thrown in there too."
Then I made my way down the hallway, turning the corner to find myself in a Greenhouse of enchanted glass and ironwork that was filled with all sorts of mystical plants that glowed to my Third Eye and that I knew could be used in all sorts of potions, oils, and other crafting projects. Bushes, flowers, shrubs, root plants, reeds, and even whole trees stretched out for a number of acres as I looked out across the Greenhouse. Some of these weren't magical but could be used for food, and not even just from Earth, either. It was a cornucopia of flora.
I noticed a small group of Evereskan Orosk Vines growing on a trellis across from a patch of Kingsfoil Shrubs from Arda. I saw a small grove of Ironwood Trees from Westeros growing across from another small grove of Chultan Zalantar Trees and a small grove of Dawi Wutroth Trees. I saw a patch of Dornish Dragon Peppers next to a thicket of Common Earth Sugarcane and another grove of Common Earth Cloves. Ulgarthan Mangari Shrubs grew near Matztican Goosefoot, Cocoa, Coffee, and Vanilla, all grew near Cotton, Flax, Indigo, Jute, Woad, Weld, Saffron, and Madder. Olives, Apples, Pears, Lemons, Limes, Oranges, and Grapes, all grew near rows of wheat, rye, barley, and maize. Beans of all stripes mingled with potatoes, carrots, artichokes, onions, and others.
All manner of plants from all across the vast multiverse seemed to have a place in this greenhouse, all of which could be made into all manner of items, from potions and wooden objects to cloth and dyes, beverages, spices, sauces, sweets, foods, and more. I could already see the potential for crafting and money-making here. It would be perfect except for one thing. Standing in the shade of an apple tree, horned helmet clutched under one arm, and biting into an apple that wasn't his, was the armed, armored, form of an interloper.
The various artifacts on his person, along with the stereotypical blonde beard, long hair, and blue eyes gave away who exactly this was. My third opponent, Alexios the Artificer of New Argive. As soon as I spotted him, however, Alexios spotted me, tossing away the core of the apple he'd plundered before putting on his Horned Helm and drawing his Veteran's Sword, he pointed the blade at me in a pose that I was pretty sure he found suitably dramatic.
"I will not yield this miraculous place to any other! Have at you!" He announced.
With that, and a flash of magic as his various artifacts activated, Alexios the Artificer of New Argive charged at me, the point of his blade streaking for my throat as he surged forward faster than I'd thought possible. I just barely managed to dodge the blade, and even then, only by leaping straight up with an Aeromancy-assisted double jump. Alexios barreled past underneath me, turning to strike at me with a whirling slash that I just barely managed to parry with my Wan-Shen as I landed. Not to be denied, however, Alexios launched a sidekick into my chest that slammed into my sternum, bruising it and sending me flying back into a saltwater pond that was being used for seaweed and coral cultivation. I splashed down under the water, needing to use Hydromancy to propel myself back to shore to avoid being entangled by the Sandvine Seaweed being grown.
As I dragged myself back to shore with my Hydromancy spitting me out of the pond on a waterspout, I shook my head to clear the water of my eyes before taking up a guard with my Wan-Shen. Alexios nodded slightly, saluting me with his Veteran's Sword before charging me once again, blade out and flashing for my neck as he did so.
And the fight began in earnest. . .
XXXX
AN: OK, here we see the first two battles going down. There weren't just powers to adapt from Heinrich and Sidu Bri, either. They also had a number of items that are going to prove useful going forward. Not just the stuff that Jan managed to figure out from Sidu Bri with Alchemy either. The blade that Heinrich had on him was a version of the Bronze Sigil Sword of Warhammer Quest that is tailored for a Ghur Wizard as opposed to an Ulgu or Hysh Wizard. The Necklace enhanced his Ghur Magic to the point where he could take a truly hybridized animal form instead of having to choose between a mostly animal or mostly man shape.
Nor are the ability and items gains over yet. Alexios the Artificer of New Argive for example has a combination of Magic the Gathering Colors specialized in magic item creation and will give Jan the ability to create Artefacts with abilities that are normally seen in White, Red, and Blue creatures. Stuff like Haste, Vigilance, Trample, Shroud, and First Strike, plus physical bonuses, which translates to being faster, stronger, tougher, and harder to hit with spells in terms of the fic. That's in addition to the equipment that Alexios has on him.
As for Derrick Adams, the Homo Magi from the DCU version of New Jersey, well I'm going to let that one be a bit of a surprise. He is, for all intents and purposes, the boss fight of the Prologue/Origin Story, after all. I don't feel right about spoiling what Jan will get from him right now, but trust me, it's a cool idea.
At any rate, the next chapter will conclude the prologue/origin story with two fights and Jan laying claim to the Tower.
Stay tuned. . .