“She doesn’t,” I said.
“So why her then?”
“I’ve honestly been wondering the same thing,” Sigrid said. “Is it because she’s cute?”
“I don’t need a fighter, at least not that kind. I need a Chief Operations Officer.”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Jane said.
Sigrid tapped the side of her head, a signal we’d arranged a while back to tell me she wanted to talk telepathically.
Me: What’s up?
Sigrid: Chief what?
Me: To manage the Players Guild.
“Ohhhhh,” Sigrid said out loud.
“Ohhh what?” Jane said, her eyes darting back and forth between me and Sigrid, then rolling. “Don’t tell me, another one of your little secrets.”
“No,” Sigrid lied. “I just remembered something. Daniel, did you notice anything different about Lianna this morning? And I don’t mean her expensive new clothes.”
“You mean her hair?” I said.
“Wow, you did notice,” Jane said. “I’m impressed.”
“I’m not completely oblivious,” I said. "She did hack most of it off, after all. The bob suits her."
“You should say something,” Sigrid said.
I frowned. “Why?”
“Why?” Jane said. “Yeah, that’s totally not the sort of question an oblivious person asks.”
“Girls like it when you notice things like that,” Sigrid said.
“I know that. And I was going to say something earlier but I didn’t want her to think I was hitting on her.”
“Why would she think that?” Jane said. “You’re just being nice.”
“Let’s just say that Lianna isn’t very trusting of men’s motives for being nice.”
“What did you do?” Sigrid said, brow furrowed.
“Nothing! I was just...nice.”
“I bet you were. Well, say it anyway.”
Lianna waddled out into the courtyard in her snazzy new set of full plate armor, carrying the oversized tin can helmet under one arm and grinning widely. She really did look cute.
Not many girls can hold their own in the looks department next to Jane and Sigrid, but Lianna had that girl-next-door charm that wasn’t the least bit out of place sandwiched between them, like Betty to the other two’s Veronica. Only with Nancy Drew’s innate mistrust and Veronica Mars’ snark. In a suit of armor.
“Ilikeyourhair,” I said.
“Really?” Lianna said, looking pleased. Then her expression darkened. “You’re not hitting on me, are you?”
Jane laughed. “I can’t believe she just blurted that out.”
“Yeah, no. I guess you’re not,” Lianna said. “Well, thanks. A friend of mine who also didn’t get onto a team opened up a sort of makeshift salon, so I’m glad you approve of me spending your money on her services.”
“We will be discussing this salon later,” Jane said, running her fingers through her thick, red hair and grimacing. "Whatever she charges, I'll pay it."
Lianna grinned. “Sure, but what about the armor? Pretty swank, huh?” She did a little spin to show it off, almost losing her balance but recovering with some semblance of grace.
It was good armor with a little magical enhancement to its durability, and I had to admit she looked pretty awesome in it. The beauty of enchanted armor is that it changes size and shape to fit the wearer, and it fit her very well. Shame it was a complete waste of money. It likely cost her most of the gold I gave her, too.
“It’s very nice,” I said. “Now go take it off.”
“Such a smooth talker,” Jane said. “No wonder you’re such a hit with the ladies.”
“Take it off? Why?” Lianna said, pouting. “Is it bad?”
“Don’t get me wrong,” I said, “it’s good armor, but it’s completely not right for you. I have something that will work much better.”
“Ooooh, is it time for presents?” Jane said, clapping her hands like a seal in a zoo who’d just seen its handler come in with a bucket of fish.
“What makes you think you’re getting one?” I said.
“Because I’m your favorite.”
“Nice try,” Sigrid said. “I think we know who his favorite is.” She made all of her special set items appear at once in a series of rapid thwups, thwips, thwaps, and thwops.
“What the hell?” Lianna said. “How did you do that?”
Sigrid smiled, then made her armor crackle with electricity. She even used her Air affinity to create a tiny breeze to make her wavy blonde hair billow heroically.
“I don’t play favorites,” I said. “But yes, Jane, I do have something for you too.”
“Wahoo! Gimme gimme.”
“Wait your turn.”
Lianna drooped like a neglected houseplant, still gaping at Sigrid and her sparkling armor. “All of a sudden my armor does seem rather lacking.” She started unbuckling some straps as Sigrid made her gear set vanish again.
“Actually, Lianna, don’t take it off yet,” I said. “Sigrid, could you please take take out your sword?” Thwup. The sword appeared on her hip in its scabbard and she drew it.
Having grown up watching movies I was used to that distinctive sound you always hear swords make when sliding from their sheaths. Even after so much time on Crucible, it still bothered me how quiet it really was to draw a sword. Funny how the realism actually made it feel less real.
“Okay, now what?” Sigrid said.
“Take a swing at Lianna,” I said.
Lianna blinked and gave me the death glare. “Excuse me?”
“I want her to hit you, but not too hard,” I said. “Just enough to feel the impact.”
“I’m starting to think it was a mistake joining you,” Lianna said. “No hitting at all. Period.”
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“Trust me,” I said.
She regarded me with wary narrow eyes.
“Don’t worry,” I said, “I can always heal you if Sigrid goes a little overboard.”
Her attention flicked like a fly against a lightbulb. She was still wary, but for a whole different set of reasons.
“You have healing powers too? For real?”
“Oh sweetheart,” Jane said, “you have a lot to catch up on.” She slung her arm around my shoulders. “Has this guy shown you his Status yet?”
“No.”
“It’s only fair. You know he can see yours any time he wants, right?”
“Yeah, that’s right,” Lianna said.
“Go on,” Jane said, tightening her grip and pulling me down into a headlock. I offered no resistance. “Give her a peek.”
Arthur, Morgan, and the others had finished what they were doing and had come over to join us.
“Whatever it is, I want a peek too,” Morgan said. “What’s he giving us a peek of? Is it lewd?”
“Daniel’s showing off his Status again,” Jane said.
“Ugh,” Morgan groaned, “I’m still recovering from when I spied on it the other day. I was hoping it was something else.”
Revealing my Status to build trust was one thing back at the start, but showing it to more people at this point would only make things awkward and change how they looked at me. I'd prefer not.
“Do you want presents or what?” I said, hoping to sideline this train of thought before I was coerced into showing them.
“Oh, he’s doing the Santa thing again,” Morgan said, perking up a bit.
“Fine,” Jane said, letting go of the headlock. “I do want presents. But I want to be there when you show Lianna your Status.”
“Sigrid, please take a whack at Jane too,” I said.
“But I’m not wearing any armor!” Jane squealed, covering herself with her arms as though she’d just been caught naked coming out of the shower.
“Exactly,” I said.
Sigrid ignored both me and Jane and stood in front of Lianna, sword gripped in both hands. “Ready?”
“Would it make any difference if I said no?” Lianna said.
Sigrid considered it for a moment. “No.” Then she gave Lianna a weak bonk with her sword, putting maybe a tenth of her strength into it, which given it was Sigrid was still a pretty decent wallop against any normal person. Lianna took the hit with a wince and a groan, the armor blocking most of the impact.
Having zero combat experience, inadequate physical strength, and no familiarity with the armor that bogged her down and threw off her center of balance, Lianna teetered for a bit with her arms flailing in a vain but amusing attempt to retain her balance, then fell like the proverbial stone.
Even with the armor and Sigrid holding back she’d lost a good chunk of her health, more than I’d expected. Lianna was a lot weaker than I’d thought. Then again, when it came to the combat part of the game she was the same as when she just got here. Basically a normal human. We’ll fix that soon enough.
“Ow,” Lianna said, struggling on her back on the ground like an inverted turtle. “Trust me, he says.”
I went over and helped her stand up, sneaking in a quick heal as she grabbed the hand I offered.
“I’d say thanks,” she said, “but this was your fault in the first place.”
“It proved my point, though, didn’t it?” I said, starting to help her take off the armor.
“I suppose. Maybe this armor wasn’t the best idea. But I need some protection, don’t I?”
“Oh, you definitely do.”
"Jane," Morgan said as Lianna and I struggled with her armor. "The way you were talking before about Daniel's Status. It almost sounded like you've seen it recently yourself."
"Did it?" Jane said innocently, putting her acting skill to good use.
"What will you do with that armor? Arthur said. "It looks expensive."
"It was," Lianna lamented.
"I'd give it to one of your new recruits," I said, kneeling and working on Lianna's greaves, "but it doesn't fit with their abilities. We'll donate it to a Player who could use it. Someone who didn't get onto a team."
"You're weird," Morgan said, but she was smiling when she said it.
"What? It might help spur them to be more active and get stronger for the next recruitment drive."
"You think there'll be one?" Morgan said.
"I wouldn't be surprised if they open teams up completely next time. Let people join and leave without restrictions."
"When?" Sigrid said.
”That’s anyone’s guess.”
Once the armor was all removed and its pieces sitting in a neat pile on the stone floor of the courtyard a ring appeared in my hand. “Here, put this on,” I said, holding it out for Lianna.
“First a bracelet, now a ring. You expect me to trust someone who goes around giving girls jewelry all the time?” Lianna said, but she still took it and examined it closely.
"She makes a good point," Jane said.
“Hmmm, it is nice, though," Lianna said. "Mithril. Good quality transparent moonstone with nice blue adularescense, I'd say two carats or so with perfect symmetry in the square cushion cut, and nicely set. Elven made." She looked up at me. "Not exactly sure how I know all that. I mean, my uncle’s a jeweller and I worked a lot in his shop so I know a fair bit about this stuff, but it’s not like we had any mithril or elven craftsmen back home.”
“That’s how skills work here,” I said. “Your Appraisal skill is loosely based on your real world experience, but has a lot of stuff added to it that you never knew before.”
“Neat. So what’s this thing do?”
“It’s your new armor,” I said. “Check its Status.”
Holtzmann Shield Ring
All the armor you’ll ever need.
Powers:
Adequate Storage Space - Extra-dimensional inventory; Life affinity required
Danger, Will Robinson - Automatically detect potential threats; Life affinity required
Holtzman Effect - Create a protective energy field around the wearer’s body; Life Affinity required
“Seriously?” Lianna said. “Is this some kind of trick?”
I held out my hand to show her that I was wearing an identical ring, only mine had a black oval-cut onyx stone embedded in it.
I didn’t technically need the ring because I had the Holtzman Effect power innately, but you never know. The redundant inventory storage I really didn't need, so mine had Affinity Defence incorporated into it instead, allowing me to add an extra layer of elemental protection using any of the twelve affinities without using any of my personal mana supply.
The affinity restrictions were there to make it possible to cram these significant abilities into the item, but they also served as a pretty effective lock, too. Our affinity with Life was so rare that if anybody else did manage to get their hands on one of the rings there was little chance they’d be able to use it; as far as I knew, all of the Players with Life affinity were either on Team Maple Leaf or Team Player.
"Lemme see," Lianna said and grabbed my hand, bringing it up closer to her eyes. "You don't often see onyx with faceted cuts like this, but that's lovely. Look at that sheen.”
System: You know Appraisal
“You know,” Lianna added, “people used to think that onyx would lower your sex drive."
"It must be working," Jane said at the same time Morgan said, "Oh dear," and Sigrid said, "That explains a lot."
The three of them looked back and forth at each other then they all started laughing. I looked at Lianna with the intention to glare at her, but then I saw the mischevious little smile on her face.
"Did you get the reaction you wanted from that?" I whispered.
"Better than I expected," she whispered back, then spoke in a normal voice. “Well, I suppose if it’s good enough for you.” She let go of my hand and slid her ring onto her finger. “How do I make it work?”
“Just tap the stone. You should be able to do it with the finger right next to it.” She made an almost imperceptible gesture and the faint shimmer of a personal shield appeared around her, barely visible.
“Okay. Hit her again, Sigrid.” Lianna looked about to protest again. “Trust me,” I said.
“You keep saying that,” Lianna said, shaking her head. “You do know the story of the boy who cried wolf, right?”
Without hesitation or warning, Sigrid took another swipe at her. This time, her sword stopped just shy of touching Lianna’s arm and bounced off. Lianna flinched instinctively, but wasn’t knocked down and appeared relatively unharmed.
“Looks like it works,” Lianna said, looking at her arm and finding no sign it had very nearly been severed a moment before. “But if we’re going to compare, shouldn’t you hit me at least as hard as you did last time?”
“I did,” Sigrid said.
“But I barely felt a thing!”
“It doesn’t just block the hit,” I said. “It dulls the impact by absorbing most of the kinetic energy too. Big hits can still hurt you but the damage will be greatly reduced.”
Wayne, Bruce and Sam came over to take a look too.
“What are we doing?” Sam said.
“Sigrid’s beating up the new girl,” Arthur said.
Morgan elbowed her brother. “We’re testing a new shield thingy.”
“Oh, fun,” Sam said.
“That is so cool,” Jane said. “Hit her again, harder.”
few chapters -- he was very busy indeed.
Up next: Santa Claus has come to town