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Calling Dust
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The twins don't generate that many sparks. Hell, the dead one doesn't generate any sparks at all, she's just some weird not-dead thingy that has some weird powers. In terms of spark generation, Isrenow far outclasses them, it the point of it being almost funny.
So essentially... fuck their deal, they serve me or die. Works for me. Let's get to it then.
"I'm gonna go with... no. You serve me, faithfully and without backtalk, and a geas on top of that, and I'll let you live, or whatever it is you do, past today. Otherwise, I start with the killing, and I'll make sure to make it as painful as possible."
Maria face goes pale, but the brother steps in front of her, eyes defiant. "We refuse! There's no reason sister should have to-"
I make a cutting motion with my hand, and the boy flinches and ceases his little speech, then opens his eyes to find nothing wrong with himself. Then a scream of pain draws his attention to the girl behind him, and he discovers he wasn't my target. His sister on the other hand, is currently missing her right leg. Apparently, being dead doesn't save you from pain. Good.
"Strike one. Swear loyalty. Bow down."
The brother starts to open his mouth, but Maria cuts him off. "You... you could... ah... you won't... won't have my... my loyalty..." Her own eyes are filled with fear, but I get the feeling she's only trying to act tough. I frown, then shrug. Oh well, strike 1 for her then. I make another cutting motion with my hand, and this time the girl flinches, only to here her brother scream in pain. I took his left arm, hopefully that cuts back on him thinking about attacking me with magic.
"Look, I really don't care if you accept or not, either way. It would be nice to have a few more followers, and perhaps get my hands on some useful little troops, even if they are weird bat things, but it's not like I'm going to cry about it if I have kill you. Strike 1 for you, by the way."
The boy clenches his teeth once he's done screaming his head off, then he focuses on me. "I'm gonna kill you! I'm gonna rip your head off you bastard!"
"Yeah? I doubt that. But I think I'll take that as strike 2." I start to raise my hand again, aiming for the dead woman's other leg, then make the downward cutting motion. The spell, however, seems to get reflected, the ground next to her getting cut instead. I hiss in annoyance, only to find the boy next to his sister, the figure of a robed man, a scythe in one hand, hovering over him. Power comes from it, I can taste it, but not the same kind of power as sparks. Something else. Either way, all that power is directed at me, and I glare at the thing in annoyance. I call up another cutting spell and direct it at the new figure, but again it seems to miss, cutting the wall next to them.
"By the fucking Pit! What the hell did you do?"
The boy grins, although he's clearly still in pain, and holds up a card at me. "Clearly, you don't know much about invoking. But... I'll be sure to educate you. I won't ever... won't ever let you hurt sister." The boy carefully places the card down on the ground, the hooded figure still focusing it's attention on me, then digs around in his pocket and extracts a small piece of cloth. He begins muttering, then pours sparks into the thing, and I can feel it light up with power. For a moment, nothing happens, then I get to watch as ancient warriors seemed to form in front of the twins, 20 in all. "Go! I invoke your contract, and command that you kill that man!"
The soldiers charge as one mass, and I try launching a fireball at them. Every single one is blown away instantly, the cloth piece the boy had losing it's power as the soldiers all "die". The boy gawks in surprise, while I look bored. I try launching a fireball at the twins, but again, it seems to just barely miss. Well fuck them to.
The boy seems to be fumbling for what to do, while the girl seems to be thinking. For a moment, I stand there, not really sure what to do myself, as I don't really think firing off more spells will do more than waste precious sparks, but the decision is taken from me as the girl decides to open her mouth.
"If... if I swear loyalty to you, will you promise to keep me and my brother safe? And you'll find us another immortal, to complete the contract with The Death?"
I pause to consider this, then shrug. "Yeah, sure. It shouldn't be too hard. I'm sure there are some immortals out there that aren't going to be happy with my plans. So yeah, I'll help you out."
The sister nods, then turns to her brother, who is gawking at her now, not really sure what to say. "Come on brother. You don't have anything else you can do that will harm him, and The Death is almost finished with this invocation anyway. Serving someone else won't be that bad, he doesn't seem like the kind of person to abandon us as long as we serve faithfully."
The brother is clearly wavering, and I simply wait. A the twins get into a whispering match again, and about halfway through it that robed Death thing disappears, leaving me with the thought that I could just kill them both now... but we've already got their promise, so their really isn't any need to go slaughtering them, however much fun it would be. And that invoking thing... it was strong enough to stop me. To stop ME. That isn't something I can overlook.
"We have an agreement then? You take a geas onto your souls that you shall serve me faithfully?"
The girl turns her attention away from her brother and bows as gracefully as she can, considering she's missing a leg. "I do swear it." A good enough response for me. I drag sparks from my soul and shape them, changing them into a shackle, a rope, a symbol.
"Girl, you will be mine. In all things, you will be mine. Your body will do whatever I want it to do. A tattoo explodes into being along the girl's back with a shower of sparks, the tattoo shaping itself into the crest of my lineage. Your mind will think whatever I will it think." Another shower of sparks explodes out of the girls forehead, and while no tattoo accompanies it, I can feel the magical power settling into her mind. "Your soul shall feel whatever I will it feel." Another explosion of sparks, this last one coming from the center of her chest, and again, no tattoo accompanies it, but I can feel the pulse of power as it resonates and binds her soul. "And not even the gods themselves shall break this bond, lest they raise the ire of Prime Gods themselves, they who first gave geas unto the mortal world." Not a true statement, there's books detailing it's research and discovery, but it's true enough that the gods can't meddle with another person's geas.
The girl collapses suddenly, the full weight of the geas finally settling onto her existence, and I suddenly find that I can feel something just on the edge of my soul. The connection, I think, to the geas, telling me of my first true servants condition. The connection itself feels weird, but that's just something else I'll have to get used to, I suppose. I suddenly realize that the girl is still missing her leg, so I hit her with a quick healing spells and watch as her leg is restored, nodding slightly to myself. Good, can't have damaged goods for servants.
The boy follows his sister's example, and I similarly place the geas on him, and repair his arm when I'm finished. By the time I'm done with the brother, Maria has recovered from the geas' weight and is standing a few feet away, hands clasped in front of her. Once she sees I'm done with her brother, she bows slightly and starts with the servant attitude.
"How might I be of assistance, master?"
I flinch slightly, the term master is new, but shouldn't take too long to get used to, and I decide it might be worthwhile to figure out exactly what each can do. "Well... what exactly does each one of you do? Or can do? I can't really get much use out of you if I don't know that."
Maria nods, then begins her explanation. Apparently, she's far more familiar with the exact limitations of both herself and her brother than even her brother is, as all he normally does is worry.
For Maria, the following rules apply:
-She requires blood to survive, usually about a pint of the stuff a week, although she can break that up into smaller amounts over the course of a few days if so desired.
-Anyone she drains completely of blood(or dies because of her draining their blood) is transformed into a bat-human along the lines of the non-flying ones. They follow her commands without question. These minions she creates apparently begin to look more and more human the more blood they drink, but she has yet to see if they can become completely human looking.
-She has found that shadows can be hidden it, quite literally she melts into said shadows. She also has a limited form of shadow-stepping, in that she can step from one shadow to another as long as it does not break any rules she is bound by, explained later.
-She has the limited ability to force weak-willed humans into a sort of mesmerized state, although they won't follow orders they will be dazed and confused. This requires eye to eye contact however, and she hasn't really tested it's limitations.
-She is limited in that she cannot enter a private residence unless invited in(although places intended for public use are considered to have open invitation to anyone), nor can she move into or through sunlight. Her created minions follow these same rules.
It's also been hinted by The Death Reversed that there are further abilities she can obtain, assuming she's willing to make further deals with it. Whatever that means.
As for her brother, Samuel, he is quite obviously an invoker. I have little knowledge on the subject, and admit as much, but Maria waves the truth aside. Invoking isn't a common practice, and is generally considered weak because of it's varied requirements and limitations. For now, she's just going to explain what her brother can do.
-Samuel can invoke three tarots(that's the name of those fucking cards!) both in their Pure and Reversed states. These tarots are The Fool, The High Priestess and The Death.
-Samuel has a few non-tarot pacts formed, namely with a Flag of Command, which calls ghostly soldiers to fight for him, and with a Hunting Stone, a small pebble that will point in the general direction of an object or person the invoker wishes to find.
Maria finishes her explanation just as Samuel recovers from the geas himself, and both stand around, waiting for me to tell them what to do. I stand there, not really knowing what to do... hey voices, what should I do? I can't really go around ripping and tearing everything to bits. I suppose I should go collect Isrenow again, at some point. And I still have to figure out a way to claim this city for myself. So... what's the plan?
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