Chapter IV - Earthly Delights

[IamLEAM1983]

Samigina's chuckle also contained elements of a lustful growl, and he shook Jameson's hand vigorously. "That's grand, me lass - just grand! We'll all need yer rooftop-savvy in any case, so I can't begrudge ye for resistin' me bride's song. Maybe ye'll show me around yer own concrete-and-glass sea, one day, see if she's got a voice of her own... A little Cantonese, a little English, Han Chinese Mandarin in some corners; maybe some Russian or Korean, too."

He then caught sight of Lucian's offering. The old captain didn't push his physically invasive tendencies too far, this time, and settled with giving Jameson a slight nudge. "Hark," he said, "we'd best be gettin' a wee bit closer, I ken..."

George simply turned, staying at a level with Preston and Tiara, facing Rothchild as he opened his case.

"There will be more awaiting our friends," said the old man, "but some of my grandchildren have finally scored a victory against the bean-counters in our midst... Some of my descendants wished for me to commercialize my old Etheric Deterrence Arrays, perhaps offer them to one of the modern merchant-men for weaponry. Alkaev, Heckler & Koch, Scorpion and the like... I've always refused. That said, the coming weeks may upset many a spirit and rouse the dead in many ways. You need only ask mister Duvivier of Club Ishtar, or perhaps your own Tom Magnus: the old Goat will destroy all boundaries if it enables him to better control his desired narrative - one that ends with us enslaved and his allied Pitspawn crowned rulers of this world."

Out of the case came a rifle of decent size, its profile notable for a few frayed edges caused by imperfect sanding-down of 3D-printed external-body pieces. The casing was made out of what had to be Plasteel, or Ballistic Plastic; a recent invention awaiting official application by Goliath's engineering team. The chamber, however, was transparent, whereas the rest of the body sported a matte white finish. Rothchild flicked a switch where one would normally have found the safety, and a ring of runes laser-etched onto a lathed steel ring inside the chamber glowed to life. A beam of bluish-white energy shot out from what appeared to be an etched crystal located further down into the body, its striations indicating it was a lab-grown chunk of minerals and not a naturally occurring geode. The beam of light grew thicker in the transparent part, the entire body of the gun gently humming along with its focused power.

"This is a modernized design of the ordnance I used in the past two hundred years, in order to pacify and subdue violent spirits," he said. "I've currently set this one to remain harmless to any and all living among us, naturally; but spirits tainting their fetters with negative energy or the enraged ghosts of defeated Loyalists would both feel this firearm's power quite intensely. The factory we have purchased is helmed by members of this family," he said. "While I would keep its exact location undisclosed for the nonce, let me say it is quite difficult to reach at present."

The rhino set his hand on the old man's shoulder as he looked back to the assembly. "It's been a long and hard road for us, as the Rothchilds aren't known for their martial skills. We set about working on this some ten years ago, while others in the family thought a more traditional business deal would see us through. Ten years of outreach across the firearms industry, ten years of convincing understandable skeptics of the virtue of building a rifle that can't harm a single living soul, or souls firmly entrenched in their bodies, like most vampires. We have a safety setting that amplifies the beam to the point where the living can feel the discharged etheric projectiles the way the Fae do the Bane, but it's fundamentally unable to dish out physical harm. We think that makes it perfect for hectic crowd-control situations the likes of which might develop if the Goat wins."

Astra spoke up. "This isn't a business proposal - it's friends arming other friends. We have pistol models incoming, along with SMGs, shotguns, sniper rifles and grenades. If the Goat lets the Shadowlands loose, you'll see new players enter the field and old ones try and retake their lost posts. Old liches like Rasputin might be roused from whatever dark corner of the Earth they've crawled to."

Lucian nodded and looked at Matriel. "Even if we defeat the Pit, the world will change. A new form of warfare will be required. Magic can no longer be the exclusive province of those of other planes, or of the gifted amongst us, and mere enchantments will no longer suffice."

Coach stepped forward and extended a hand, and Lucian handed him the gun. "Direct projection," he said, inspecting the chamber, "direct via projection in a focusing sleeve and with a rechargeable focus... Change the ring and you change the output."

Lucian nodded. "Healing salvos, flames, dispersing wavelengths like this one...
- You copied the way liches discharge their power, but you don't have liches at your disposal, especially no-one who would've wanted to be hacked into pieces to serve as a fancy gun's magazine. That means you needed a high-density focus, hence the crystal.
- Correct.
- But nobody except Squids can compress carbon quickly and efficiently enough to farm crystals yet. We're decades away from the crystal microprocessors Nakamura and Goliath are pushing for, they can't build stable lattices yet. The scale is too small."

Rothchild nodded, smiling behind his tentacles. "Go on, mister Robertson...
- So you staffed a warehouse with employees with the usual Rothchild kindness - but you've spent days turning rocks into diamonds and quartz fingers.
- Months," corrected the Squid, which left the lich with a humbled and pained look. Lucian's diminished state made sense: he'd sacrificed his health for the good of a project he believed in.

"How hard was it?" he asked, his voice low and quiet.

Lucian sighed and tried to sound debonair. "The old patrons aren't nearly as helpful as they used to, and there is no fundraiser or Kickstarter for gods to pitch in and help," he said, smirking. "The cause is worth it, however. You are holding the end result of months of effort, of pain, insomnia and isolation from those I love."

Astra scoffed, but her eyes were gleaming. "For four years, I thought he needed to spend a month overseas every once in a while to keep an eye on the British arm of the family. I still don't know if he actually stayed in London, but I do know, now, that he spent a month in that factory with nothing but a cot and two meals a day, whispering to rocks until they turned into crystals our mages could use."

[TennyoCeres84]

Aspasia looked from her husband to the elderly Squid and nodded appreciatively, with an equally humbled expression on her face. "The craftsmanship is superb. You were wise for not turning your inventions over to any of the large weapons companies. For all their proficiency, profit would've likely been the main reason for receiving your ideas and and would have been squandered," she observed.

With regard to his statement, Matriel nodded to Lucian and lightly rested a hand on his shoulder. "People standing against the Pit and the Others will need these finely wrought instruments in the coming weeks, months, and years with the road that lays ahead. Thank you very much for the sacrifices you made, Mr. Rothchild."

Meris drew near and lightly squeezed his hand. "Thank you so much, my old friend." She could have said more, but the others' comments on his workmanship and devotion had already been covered. Also, the patriarch would have known how much respect and love the selkie had for the man who had felt like a second grandfather and mentor to her.

[IamLEAM1983]

"You're quite welcome," said Lucian, who squeezed back. "This was one of the early final production designs, hence the casing's need of some fine-grit sandpaper."

He scoffed slightly. "I thought about leaving a more powerful focusing lens in, at the expense of users needing to wear a power pack of some persuasion, but I doubt any of you would appreciate channeling Ivan Reitman's style of comedy in the midst of potentially dire straits."

Helena scoffed. "Yeah, I'm in no hurry to be asked if I'm a god by a Slovenian model in an eighties' hairdo who's covered in shoggoths as designed by Jean-Paul Gaultier.
- Cats and dogs living together," stated George, on a perfectly sedate tone, "mass hysteria."

[Karl the Mad]

"Aw man, but I like crossing the streams," Preston protested cheerfully.

Abraham approached, a hand held out. "May I?" he asked, gesturing at the rifle.

[IamLEAM1983]

"Of course," agreed Lucian, who nodded to Coach.

The lich passed the weapon to Zahavi. "Er, watch the grip - there's some plastic splinters there," he cautioned. "Home-grown ordnance at its finest. Looks like there's still some work needed on the join between the butt and the grip material, but honestly? Wow. Awesome first try - I hope you'll agree, Abraham."

Robertson grinned. "I know a couple ranch owners who could've done with some blueprint files and a 3D printer, back in the day. To me, this stuff's unbelievable. To every man and woman, a forge and crucible..."

[Karl the Mad]

Handling the gun, Abraham could tell that Coach was accurate in his assessment. "Sandpaper, indeed," he said half to himself, grimacing slightly as some jagged edge dug into his palm. "Have you conducted field trials yet?" he asked of Lucian.

Tiara drank the water she'd been given, and was slightly disappointed when her inebriation didn't let up. "Preston, I thought your friends were magical," she complained, poking him in the side.

"They are, but they're also not a hangover cure," he answered crossly. "Go back to eating, none of this will interest you much."

Mary peered at the weapon in Abraham's hands. "Can you make crossbows like this?" she asked.

[IamLEAM1983]

"We are working on it," nodded Lucian, answering Mary's question. "As for field trials; I have sent several among my descendants' children out for trials against spirits we know to be aggressive enough to serve as decent targets, yet harmless enough to allow for a more methodical testing protocol. You are holding the results of the last eighteen months' refinements of the initially updated designs of my own weaponry. The process is ongoing, of course, but the Plasteel casts are final."

The elder Squid smirked. "As for its support effectiveness... Here, mister Zahavi - try and flick the safety switch all the way down, wait for the cycling chamber to warm up, and then shoot me."

[TennyoCeres84]

Briefly surprised at the thought of Abraham shooting at the elderly man, Aspasia tilted her head curiously and frowned. "You and your kin are not inherently violent, so I can only assume the ammunition is meant to heal on a spiritual level, rather than act aggressively in a corporeal basis?" she asked.

[Karl the Mad]

Rather a strange request, but the Israeli did as he was told, pushing the safety switch all the way down and shouldering the gun, breathing in and out while the chamber warmed up, and when it was ready he put the old squid's chest in the sights and fired. From six feet away it was no great feat of marksmanship, but orders were orders!

[IamLEAM1983]

Abraham would've noticed the blue-white light of the chamber turn a slightly fleshly pink, motes of seemingly congealed arcane power floating in the chamber. When he fired, Rothchild stiffened in the chair he'd been sitting in - but not out of pain. The split-second of the shot connecting with the elder Squid's chest saw his skeleton glow through the skin and organs, the soft tissues then radiating that same light - and what had to be a rush of endorphins flooded Lucian's body. He relaxed, but settled into a slightly straighter, more stable and more relaxed posture than before. He probably had nursed pain in his back and hips, whereas he now looked as though Zahavi had blown two or three years off of his face.

"You've just bought me a few weeks of lessened arthritic pains, I believe," he said, squinting as he removed his spectacles, "and perhaps a visit to my ophtalmologist. I can feel my retinas... tingling."

A slight smile touched his features as he gazed back to the front of the store, farther than his near-sighted bookworm's eyes should've allowed. "I see we have disciples of the Master of Providence in our midst... Is this a stack of Chtulhu busts in the front window?"

Charles the rhino adjusted his own glasses. "We have similar prescriptions... You can see them? If I look past my glasses' rim, Lucian, all I see is a small greenish blur in that window. I think mister Zahavi just shot you a dose of borderline 20/20 eyesight."

Lucian looked back to Abraham and quietly laughed, then looked back at Aspasia. "No healing of this sort is spiritual, miss Robertson."