Mist of Shadows
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Dawn and Reincarnation Part 41
🕑 Added 2020-12-29 05:43:47 +0000 UTCFaith smiled at the attractive woman making her way towards the 'sealed' tomb with five brutish looking guards. "Lysa? Fred wondered if you'd show up once we unsealed the tomb."
Lysa paused as she studied the dark haired woman leaning up against the rough stone wall next to the entrance, trying to figure out how some random person knew her name or that she was in any way connected to the tomb. "Fred?" she asked, trying to get more information out of the young woman that knew her name and wasn't scared of her or her guards. "If you know my name, why aren't you running?"
Faith smirked at Lysa and snapped her fingers, using razor thin threads of air to decapitate the demon's guards, causing their bodies to blur and turn into ugly headless humanoid bird things when the illusion concealing them failed. "Because I don't have to."
Lysa glanced at her dead guards then back at Faith, trying not to let her unease show. "What do you want?"
"I'm curious what changes a fun loving young woman into a demon hell bent on revenge," Faith admitted, curious if there was anything she could save of the young woman that Eirena remembered.
"Time, I wanted to live long enough to see Eirena again," Lysa admitted. "Of course, I eventually realized that she'd have to fall or she'd wither and die, but you can't make an omelet without breaking some eggs."
"In other words, demonic corruption," Faith replied, using the power Dawn loaned her to make an uncorrupted and loyal copy of the young woman, figuring she couldn't save the original.
Lysa screamed in pain when she felt a powerful blast of magical energy rip into her back. She shifted into her demonic form and spun around to find out what had attacked her and stared in disbelief when she saw a naked copy of her human form.
Faith lashed out with a blade of air and cut the demon's head off. "We're going to need to figure out a better way to deal with corruption."
The copied Lysa stared at the demon on the ground. "She didn't start out evil, she just didn't trust the prophet and went looking for solutions and ways to help her friends."
"I can't say I blame her, Xander would have something to say about prophecies," Faith replied as she studied the clone, wondering if she'd end up evil or if her friends could keep her on the right path.
"Mostly that they're all bullshit," Xander said as he walked out of the tomb. He glanced between the dead demons and Lysa. "Ready to see Eirena?"
"More than ready." Lysa glanced down at her breasts. "I don't suppose you have extra clothes?"
"Not with me." Faith gestured towards the entrance to the tomb. "Shall we head inside so you can see your sisters?"
"I've been waiting for this for almost fifteen hundred years…" Lysa trailed off as she realized she was going to have to explain how she'd survived. "What are we going to tell them about the other Lysa?"
"I suggest telling them that a demon put you to sleep and stole your body and that you came to see them as soon as you woke up," Xander suggested. "It's more or less true."
"For a given value of truth," Faith said sarcastically.
"Sometimes the truth is stranger than fiction and sometimes the truth needs to be massaged a bit so that everything works out," Xander said, thinking about the various lies he'd told various authority figures in Sunnydale.
"Don't worry, they'll be too busy looking at your breasts to complain," Faith said cheerfully as she headed into the tomb.
Lysa shook her head and followed them into the tomb to see her friends.
0o0o0
"These aren't the same," Shen complained, less than impressed by the quality of his new tools compared to his old ones. "I thought you said you were going to fix the enchantment." He frowned when he realized Dawn wasn't paying attention. "Are you ignoring me?"
"Trying," Dawn replied absently, keeping her attention on the enchanting tools Myriam Jahzia was examining. "I've already replaced your entire collection, twice. I'm not doing it a third time."
"You said that you'd replace my gear if I came with you," Shen complained.
Dawn turned and looked at the jeweler who was standing near the fountain. "No, I said I'd try if you combined some gems. You haven't combined jack or shit and some of the tools Xander crafted are better than the shit you had."
"And some of them aren't," Shen argued. "How do you expect me to do my best work if I have inferior tools?"
"At this point, I don't really care," Dawn snapped, frustrated from the near constant interruptions when she just wanted to finish duplicating Myria's tools so the mystic could start training apprentices and she could get back to killing things in the dungeon. "You're just trying to start a fucking argument so you're free to leave without teaching anyone anything like you agreed."
Haedrig snorted when Shen turned to look at him. "Don't look at me, Griswold has a decent collection of tools but there's a difference between hammering out blades and making specialized tools. If you want better tools, find someone that specializes in making tools and pay them your weight in gold, I have better things to do, like training my new apprentices."
"I don't have that type of gold, I'd have been better off staying," Shen complained.
"You need Selena's help to find your special jewel," Dawn pointed out, wishing the man would stop complaining and do what he promised, especially when her identification ability was saying the new tools were fairly close to the quality of tools he'd had or better in a couple of cases because she'd turned several of the blades into heartstone so they wouldn't need to be sharpened.
Shen opened his mouth to complain then closed it when a doorway opened against the wall of the smithy and Selena walked out with a string of attractive girls following her. "Can you spare some gold to upgrade my tools?"
Selena glared at Shen, recognizing the greedy look in his eyes. "Considering I don't even have five gold to my name and I'm still trying to rebuild my gear, you'll have to do your best with what you have."
"No one values good honest work anymore," Shen complained as Xander walked out of the strange portal followed by Fred and Cordelia.
Xander glanced between Dawn and the jeweler. "What's the problem?"
Dawn pointed at Shen. "He agreed to fuse some gems if I provided him with tools, now he's whining that the quality isn't up to his standards. I'll admit that I'm not a master enchanter but most of the tools are at least reasonable or better than what he had according to my identification power."
"Are you saying you're not going to honor the deal?" Xander asked, more than a little annoyed with the jeweler's whining since he'd forged the first set of tools for the picky old man that he'd said didn't meet his standards but had been reluctant to give back.
Tara followed Melaina out of her doorway and glanced around, wondering what everyone was shouting about. She stepped out of the way for Raissa then closed the doorway once the other girl walked through.
"She was expecting me to work for free," Shen complained. "Just because I'm willing to lend my expertise to fusing gems, doesn't mean I'm willing to do it for free. The reagents aren't cheap you know."
"Bullshit," Dawn snapped, losing her patience after dealing with him for the last couple of days.
"What?!" Selena demanded as she turned and glared at Shen.
"The crucible doesn't cost anything to use beyond a bit of magic for the fire," Dawn explained. "He's been pocketing the gold you've been paying him."
Selena held up her hand and conjured a ball of fire. "Give me one reason I shouldn't kill you Shen."
"I spend most of the gold acquiring recipes," Shen argued, gaze jumping between Dawn and Selena, trying to stay calm rather than run or dive into the fountain, mostly because he doubted it would save him.
"And the rest?" Selena demanded, knowing there was no way he'd spent most of it acquiring recipes.
"Tracking down leads on The Jewel of Dirgest is expensive, I've had to bribe a number of people," Shen argued.
"Dirgest is a dangerous demon," Eirena reminded Selena.
"Fine," Selena grumbled as she tossed her fireball into the sky and let it explode. "I'm sure I can find a jeweler that works for reasonable prices."
"I'm the best around, you're never going to find better," Shen argued.
"There's always better or at least more reasonable," Cordelia piped up.
"None of them have even a quarter of my experience or talent," Shen bragged, knowing they'd never find anyone as good as he was at crafting magical jewelry.
"Just because you're the best doesn't mean we need to put up with your shit," Faith said with a smirk. She created a goblin copy of the jeweler in front of her then drew her sword and cut the goblin's head off. "Does anyone else want a copy of his skills? They can borrow my ability and kill a goblin."
"Yes!" Dawn said at the same time as Xander, figuring it was a good opportunity to pick up more crafting skills.
Shen stared at Faith in horror as he realized what she was implying. "What?! That's not fair!"
"It seems pretty fair to me considering how much you charged to use something I helped you recover," Selena pointed out, more than happy to make sure she didn't need his services in the future. "I'd love a copy of his skills."
Shen glared at Faith. "You can't do that! Magic doesn't work that way!"
"Depends on the magic," Lysa piped up, thinking about some of the various spells Lysa had run into over the years that she'd been hunting for a solution to saving Eirena.
"Mine does." Faith snapped her fingers and created another goblin clone. "Maybe you shouldn't have been a whining little shit."
"Parley?!" the goblin blurted.
Xander reached out and punched the goblin in the head, causing it to splatter. "You might as well make another one, Dawn can wrap it up and we can make copies."
Haedrig glanced between Shen and the dead goblins. "If that's all it takes to steal someone's skills, why ask me to train apprentices?"
Faith turned to look at the smith. "It's sort of rude to just copy someone's skills that they spent their lives earning, I try to reserve copying people's skills for volunteers, cultists or greedy shits."
"In that case, I don't have an objection if you want to speed things up," he offered, figuring it would save him a decent amount of work teaching some apprentices the basics and he could get some work down with competent help.
"Thanks." Faith was fairly sure they'd have a decent number of people on the island that wouldn't mind picking up blacksmithing if all they had to do was stab a goblin.
Dawn turned to look at Wirt who was lurking near the inn listening to the argument. "Wirt, how would you like your leg back?"
"Funny," Wirt replied sarcastically. "But sure, if you have a magic potion or something that can fix my leg and you want to give it to me, by all means."
"That depends, do you want an honest trade?" Dawn asked, glancing between Wirt and Shen.
"There's nothing dishonest about gambling," Wirt complained.
'Depends on how much you're cheating people,' Myriam Jahzia mused as she continued checking over her new tools, not seeing a point in drawing attention her way when she was also guilty of profiting off the hero, if not to the same extent as Shen.
"Is that a no?" Dawn asked.
"If you can give me his skills and fix my leg, I'd be more than willing to help out," Wirt offered, figuring having the jeweler's skills would help with his goals of acquiring enough gold to set himself up elsewhere as a man of leisure.
"Cool, let's start with your leg then we'll get you an honest profession." Dawn loaned Wirt her regeneration, causing his leg and wounds to instantly start regenerating which caused him to fall over when his peg leg was pushed off his stump.
Shen glared at Faith. "You're messing with things you don't understand."
"Probably," Faith replied as she created a goblin copy of Shen and bound it in threads of air so she wouldn't need Shen to make copies.
"You obviously don't want to be here, is there anywhere you want to go?" Tara asked, figuring the merchant would probably be happier and safer elsewhere.
"Anywhere?" Shen asked, momentarily distracted from his frustration of having someone copy his skills.
"More or less," Tara replied.
"In that case, drop me near The Jewel of Dirgest and I'll forgive your friend for copying my skills," he said, fairly sure they wouldn't be able to help him.
"Do you know where it is?" Tara asked, keeping part of her attention on Wirt who was sitting on the ground wiggling his newly regenerated toes with a look of wonder on his face.
"It's in the unearthed ruins in Westmarch," Fred offered, remembering the location of the jewel from the game. "You'll probably want to get there before a demon shatters the gem and frees the demon god inside."
"How do you know about that?" Shen asked warily.
"I have a good memory," Fred replied, not seeing a point in trying to explain that she'd learned about the world from a game in another world.
Tara glanced at Dawn then looked back at the old jeweler. "I can get you to Westmarch once you finish your side of the deal with Dawn."
"Fine," Shen grumbled. "Where are the gems you want me to transmute?"
"I'll grab the bag," Dawn replied as she headed for the door to the island, looking forward to getting everything settled.
0o0o0
Xander glanced at Giles out of the corner of his eye as his mentor walked over to where they'd set up the cobbled together heartstone cage in the field next to the town. "Are you sure we shouldn't be climbing through the tunnels and killing the demons in hand to hand combat so they have a chance to ambush us, this seems terribly unsporting," he said the last part in his best English accent, pretending he hadn't seen Giles.
Giles glared at Xander then shook his head, figuring any answer would just encourage him.
Elizabeth snorted as Tara used a doorway to drop another five bright yellow skinned zombies into the cage for Dawn to rip apart. "Considering they have the ability to permanently damage a person's health, I'm not getting anywhere near them."
"Fair point," Xander admitted as Dawn burned the zombies to ash.
"Is it worth stealing the World Stone before we leave?" Dawn asked Giles,
"Bad Dawn, no cookie," Tara said as she dropped another two zombies into the cage.
Xander shook his head. "That's just asking for trouble and don't know how long we'll be stuck here."
Giles turned to look at Dawn. "Far be it for me to discourage your kleptomaniacal tendencies but do you have somewhere you could stash it? By all accounts it's quite large and suppresses teleportation magic around it, that might cause problems with your island."
"So, that's a no?" Dawn asked, wanting to be sure.
"Some things are better left buried. If we had more time, it might be worth running some tests to check the magical effects of a sample to see if it's useful but the answer is no," Giles said, wanting to be clear on his opinion of poking dangerous poorly understood artifacts that were powerful enough to create worlds.
Dawn shrugged, rather relieved that no one else thought it was worth the risk as she didn't want to have to come up with a plan for stealing it. "In that case, we'll probably be done killing everything exceptionally dangerous by dinner time and Diablo by evening."
"I'll make sure everyone that wants to come with us is on the island just in case this works," Xander said as he turned and headed towards the town, glad that most of the people they'd rescued were coming with them, even if he understood why the blacksmith and jeweler were staying.
"Thanks," Dawn said as she torched the zombies in the cage as they lurched towards the group.
0o0o0
Dawn blinked as she went from erasing Diablo from existence with a stream of balefire to sitting in a strange futuristic nightclub watching an athletic naked blue dancing girl with waist length glowing purple hair spin around a pole on stage. "Nice."
"Thanks," a male voice replied as he walked over.
Dawn turned and stared at the attractive teenager with dark messy black hair and emerald green eyes that was wearing an impossibly white tuxedo holding a martini glass filled with a glowing purple liquid. "Blacklight?"
"The client thinks it adds a certain something," the man grumbled then shook his head.
"You don't agree?" Dawn asked, glancing back at the dancing girl then focusing on the stranger.
"It's not that, I'm just the Builder, not part of the show, I got stared at enough at school or last a lifetime," he replied as he offered Dawn his hand. "I'm Harry."
"Dawn," Dawn replied as she shook his hand. "So, this might be a strange question but where am I and why could I almost hear the capital when you said Builder?" she asked, wondering if the title tied into her collection of new and interesting powers.
"Considering I saw you appear out of thin air, not particularly. We're on the Sinful Delight, a pleasure station in Calnarri space, the Blacklight Cafe is one part alien dance club and one part whorehouse." Harry grinned at Dawn's surprised expression. "As for Builders, Mione could probably explain things better but we're basically traveling crafters that specialize in the weird and unique or at least that's the general idea, I'm just an apprentice and the cafe isn't technically open for business yet."
"Why isn't it open for business?" Dawn asked as she glanced around, not seeing any signs of construction.
"Because the client isn't particularly happy with the quality of the dancers and the cooking staff needs tweaking according to the client," Harry grumbled.
"What's wrong with the dancer?" Dawn asked, her attention going back to the naked woman spinning around the pole.
"Nothing, the client just has impossible standards and keeps changing her mind," Harry grumbled. "Never take a contract when you're drunk or sleep deprived."
"I'll keep that in mind," Dawn replied as she twisted to stand up and her feet bumped a trunk. "Sorry."
Harry gestured at the trunk. "It's not mine, it appeared when you dropped in."
"Oh, in that case, it's probably mine," Dawn mused as she reached down and touched the lock with her finger, causing it to spring open and reveal an opening and a ladder that went down into a room. "That's different."
Harry glanced down into the room in the chest. "That's better than the scan I got from my tent, do you mind if I get a scan?"
Dawn smiled as her administration ability filled in the details about how her scanning power worked. "Go for it," she offered, activating her new power and scanning the chest.
"Thanks," Harry replied and scanned the expanded chest.
Dawn grinned when the new pattern appeared on a heads up display that contained several crafting options, including Ter'angreal and Diablo tabs. 'This is going to rock.' She turned her attention towards the doors at the back of the room when a naked busty purple skinned teenager with pointed elven ears and bright red hair walked out carrying a burger and fries on a plate along with a glass filled with a chocolate milkshake.
"Hey Boss, one Breast Milk Shake, Classic Burger and fries," the girl said as she walked over, trying to walk like the client showed her.
"Breast milk shake?" Dawn muttered under her breath as she scanned the shake, trying to figure out what it was made out of. She raised her hands when the girl's over the top high heeled boots caused her to trip halfway there and toss the burger in her general direction.
Harry gestured and levitated the food and the waitress so she could get her feet under her. "Are you okay?"
"Sorry boss, these boots are evil," she complained, her blush causing her face to go a slightly darker purple.
"Don't worry about it," Harry assured her as he floated the food back to the plate and the plate and milkshake over to the table.
Dawn glanced over the scan for the shake. "You use real breast milk?" she asked in surprise.
"The client is an alien and a pervert, she would have put the waitresses on the menu but she was too cheap to spring for resurrection tech," Harry replied, scowling as he recalled that particular argument.
Dawn blinked a couple of times as she tried to process his statement. "What the fuck?"
Harry sighed, figuring it would be easier if he explained rather than letting Mione rant about the subject. "There are a lot of weird cultures in the multiverse and the Sinful Delight specializes in sin and pleasure. I suggest not signing any contracts and if you have to, reading them over carefully. Don't borrow money from any of the casinos or attack any of the station guards and you should be fine."
Dawn scanned the burger. "Why does the type of meat in the burger come up as snake and chicken?"
"Because it's cheap and the client doesn't understand the meaning of false advertising," Harry grumbled. "It doesn't taste horrible but it's certainly an acquired taste and mildly toxic to humans."
"Does that mean you need a decent source of beef?" Dawn asked, thinking about the demonic cows.
"I'd kiss you," Harry replied then paused when he realized what he'd said. "Sorry, I mean, that would be great."
Dawn grinned. "Maybe after I get to know you. I don't suppose you'd be willing to trade some patterns or tell me about the station in exchange for a couple of hundred pounds of beef?"
"That and I'd happily talk one of the girls into giving you a lap dance," Harry replied, having noticed the way Dawn looked at the girls.
"I'll let you play with my breasts," the waitress offered as she pushed her chest out. "I don't want to listen to people complaining, a happy customer is a generous customer."
Dawn smiled as she made a show of checking the elf out. "I'm looking forward to it." She turned to look at Harry. "How much time do you have?"
Harry glanced at his watch. "I can spare a couple of hours, especially if it lets me sort out the food situation long enough that I can finish my contract."
"In that case, let's have some fun," Dawn replied as she shut the trunk and gestured at an open space, conjuring a cow portal so they could go hunting.
Harry stared at the red and black portal. "Where are we going?"
"Somewhere with free range cattle," Dawn replied with amusement then stepped through the portal.
"Why do I feel like things just got more complicated?" Harry muttered.
"Because there's a cute girl involved?" the waitress asked with amusement.
"Most likely, enjoy your dinner," Harry replied then stepped through the portal and glanced around the abandoned field. He stared when he saw a handful of cows standing upright, holding halberds. "Let me guess, we have to fight them?"
"Don't worry, just stay behind me and you'll be fine," Dawn assured him as she raised her hand and tossed a fireball at the group of cows, causing the group to bellow in rage and charge.
Harry pulled his wand out of his sleeve. "Don't worry, I can hold my own."
Dawn laughed as she tossed another fireball at the group of cows and two of the demonic cows dropped to the ground. "Good to know."
'Yeah, she's nuts, she'll fit right in,' Harry thought as he joined in hexing the strange cows, figuring he'd take some samples to the station's doctor to get them tested before he ate any of it.
0o0o0
Comments
Robert Buniff
It always does.
Mist of Shadows
It seemed to fit well enough.
Robert Buniff
Harry Potter the builder. Nice!
