Chương 120: The Human Race Ch. 5-118 – To Build Ever More Stuff...

I hadn't been idle in my primary areas of need, of course. I was making a LOT of goldweight every day, to the tune of dozens at one point, spellcasters flocking in to get these great new spells. If they couldn't resell them, they at least got assurances all such spells would be opened in five years for everyone to allow others to copy, but who wanted to wait long if they had that much money? The problem was that a lot of the Gear that I wanted simply couldn't be made, because few people were high enough Level.

Except, of course, for a certain Deva sitting around without much to do... and a noble Djinn who could give out Wishes.

"You know my little brother?" Windgraf Mochtal was astounded. Like all the members of his clan, the big blue djinn preferred to dress in formal tuxedos, complete with cummerbund, sash, pocket watch with chain, artful walrus mustache, and a fine bowler or top hat, with white gloves and very polished shoes when his legs were manifest. His cuff links were marvelously understated and exquisite. He also sounded quite Prussian. I had done some looking, and there were actually some videos of him online.

To say the Arabians were very, very wrong about djinn was not inaccurate at all, although I could recall stories his little brother, Graf Koshtal (who was also the biggest source of both Stormbound and Djinnbound Pacts on Terra-Luna) saying they had some rather barbaric cousins who fit the Disney tropes.

"Graf Koshtal is both Pact Grantor and representative of the Tal Clan on Terra-Luna, and by default is the primary conduit for interplanar trade there. He's a fine credit to his family." Windgraf Mochtal took down his monocle, polished it, and studied me calmly.

"He never mentioned me, did he..." he finally asked, suspecting. I glanced at the Angelos, who also sighed.

"That's correct. And as I recall, you have sixteen other siblings..." He closed his dark eyes for a long moment, fighting down the roiling emotions that defined so much of genie-kind. The Tals were notoriously formal in peace time... but when it came time for war, they were very happy to revert to that old tradition of hoisting a really big zweihander and going totally crazy on the enemy, a duality that fit djinn nature perfectly.

Valus was one of their most lauded Patrons, and the Windgraf had two Champions among his brothers, out there on The Quest and opening up new trading opportunities for the clan.

"That is good news, and I am happy for little Koch. He was overlooked for a long time, and I am pleased he has found a place," the Windgraf finally uttered, putting his monocle back in place.

"That does beg the question as to how you know all this, young lady," he said seriously.

"Well, five other people on the planet know this. One of them is Heavenbound, and another is his Patron." I gestured to the Angelos, who inclined his head. The Windgraf returned the solemn acknowledgement. If he was not so revered as the deva, his ability to grant Wishes meant he was actually more powerful in several ways, and they operated as partners and allies here, each with their own interests to pursue. The Tal family worked with Heaven's rowdier reaches frequently, after all.

He listened to my tale of getting severed from Aelryinth, my meeting in astral space with a psychopomp who wasn't, getting forcibly stuck into this girl, and my immediate history, including shredding what should have been two very powerful Bloodlines, being Shroudborn, having a Phoenix Bloodline, and still having the Death Curse about me, whose impact had been softened by energizing an echo of Aelryinth's Heavenbound Pact upon me.

The Windgraf listened raptly, saying nothing, although he wanted to at several points. When I was finished, he regarded me intently.

"You say you were cloven from a Fifteen," he stated seriously.

"Yes."

"From a world that annihilated over six BILLION undead, gathered in full Dark Marches, and that has since cleared another world fallen to the undead."

"Yes. It is how I got the echoes of the Death Curse you can still feel on me."

"You can break the Shroud on this world..." His dark eyes were getting stormy.

"Yes," I confirmed. His huge gloved hands tightened, glancing at the Angelos, who nodded at him.

"Well, then, what would you have of me?"" Wishes, of course." His lips turned up knowingly.

"The first Wish, of course, is, 'I Wish that Windgraf Mochtal be informed of the utterance of the last Wish by his rival, the Efreet Somebody-or-other, that has been prematurely Countered.'" His eyes opened somewhat wider, narrowed in thought, widened again.

"A most judicious Wish... Do you think you could rephrase that slightly? Say, by using the name of Bey Garar'Azzar?"

"Why, certainly, my lord Windgraf. I Wish that Windgraf Mochtal be informed of the last Wish by his rival, the Efreet Bey Garar'Azzar, that has been prematurely Countered."

"Granted! Hah!" His dark eyes narrowed in thought.

"I have been spending Wishes to Counter his for a long time. I am certain he still tries, but I had not thought of alerting myself to when the Wishes I have spent against him were used up!"

"Which frees you up to use the Wishes for other purposes on a daily basis," I noted.

"It does." He studied me intently.

"I can see that you know the value of a Wish." I nodded calmly.

"You do not bring this subject up lightly."

"I most definitely do not. Freaking Wishcraft playing with Reality sets off all the alarm bells, and there's things that respond to it that we don't like at all... and not to mention, you doing so would earn a censure from the overseeing Suzerains." My pause made him purse his lips slightly.

"The Suzerains cannot see me here," he noted.

"Nor can those entities who might be interested in who is warping Reality under this huge Reality-warping bubble of the Shroud." Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation. He took a very deep breath, looking at the Angelos, who was merely intrigued.

"So, I am free to use Wishcraft, because I can't possibly exceed the power of the Shroud..."

"Yes, the power of the Shroud is Legendary Level, cast at post-40. A mere Wish from a genie is just going to get eaten by it."

"I see. I had tested it in the past, you see, and could only drive the Shroud away from a certain area until dusk."

"Sounds about right," I agreed.

"If it was easy to take down, whole worlds wouldn't have fallen to it in the silence of the void, where nobody knows."

"So, you seek to take over and make some Wishes to hasten the turnaround of the situation?" His dark eyes glittered.

"I believe the Shroud itself will eat any attempt at warping Reality to act against it, or even pushing the limits of its power, making the spell collapse. So, I would like some nudges in small directions that only gather together when agglomerated."

"Hmm." He drummed his fingers on the desk.

"Well, I don't want to be too abusive... but it's not like the Suzerains will be able to see if I bend the rules a bit, and considering the circumstances, I'd love to bend the rules a lot and show this Shroud what for!" he declared grimly.

"First question... please confirm that you both and all extraplanars you know of have been unable to grow in power under the Shroud." Djinn and deva glanced at one another in consternation, and slowly nodded.

"None of the Soulborn or Elemental natives have seen any form of growth that we can discern. This is doubtless an effect of the Shroud?" the Angelos asked.

"And why it is going to wipe your memories when it leaves, returning you exactly to the moment before you fell under it," I agreed.

"Have you tried creating magic items with Wishes?" I inquired further.

"Yes," the Windgraf confirmed instantly.

"Creating new items beyond the power of the people here to make was impossible. Lesser items... were simply stolen from those who had them and were delivered to the Wisher." He looked rather offended.

"I returned them, of course."

"Of course!" No need to even ask.

"So, what about creating a minor item that the people here don't know how to make?" He considered that solemnly.

"What kind of item are you referring to?"

"A Hat of Difference."

"A Hat of Difference." Both of them were naturally widely traveled across Planes, and had heard of many objects.

"I am not familiar with that one..." the Angelos admitted for both of them.

"That's because it's rather useless, and so theoretical. It exists in universes that don't follow the Power of Ten magical system, and instead use a single-Class system that makes it difficult to cross-train Classes. The Hat of Difference allows you to take Levels and gain experience in another Class, even if you would not normally be able to. As long as you wear the Hat, you can use the Levels." I looked back and forth between the two of them.

"And neither of you have Class Levels, do you?" They both blinked.

"What... are you intending?" the Angelos asked softly.

"I would like to spend two Wishes. I Wish for a Hat of Difference, preferably in a fine bowler pattern. I Wish for a Hat of Difference, in a comfortable baseball hat form." The Windgraf looked at me, and said softly, "I grant your first Wish." There was a swirl of really powerful magic, and a trembling in the manafield as some powerful magic, yet not so powerful, was unleashed. I held up my hands as a large round brimmed hat of felt and velvet materialized into my grasp. Just a glance confirmed it was magical.

Very calmly, I proffered it to Windgraf Mochtal. He set his own hat calmly aside, and received the Bowler solemnly.

"I grant your second Wish." I held up my hands, and a plain baseball hat with the HH logo of Heavenbound Hall on it swirled into existence in my palms. I held it out to the Angelos, who took it with care and curiosity.

"Now," I asked them both, "given your experience at such things, exactly how much Karma do the two of you think you have earned in the last sixty years?" They both blinked at me, then at the Hats in their hands.

"You can pick one Class. You can gain one Level a day until your Karma is exhausted. What is more..." and my voice dropped lower, "that Karma is something you are going to lose the instant the Shroud dies. But if it is in the Hat... you get to keep it, and very, very likely, all memories of using that power." Both of their eyes flared open, and their hands tightened on the Hats.

"Normally, such a Hat only uses Karma earned while it is worn... but that Karma is being held in Abeyance. When you put the Hats on, suddenly you will be able to access it... it wasn't there, and with the Hats on, now it is.

'Earned'." Both genie and deva looked a little awed at this little bit of running around the rules of the Shroud.

"That is extraordinary..." the deva murmured. I nodded slowly.

"But you have to be very, very certain of the Classes you pick. You only get one. No cross-Classing, no support Classes."

"What are you advising?" the Angelos asked calmly.

"Caster Classes that can initiate the creation of magic items that others can then Infuse for you, and which can Cast spells that the natives here simply can't... like, oh, Raise Dead, or its Raised VII form of Resurrection." The Angelos' brown human eyes flared with gold Light.

"I could retrieve the fallen..."

"Always the greatest power of Good," I confirmed, and looked to the Windgraf.

"The Angelos is a natural for a pure Cleric of the Heavens. You are a natural for Artificer. Be able to initiate the construction of any single item we need, and simply have others Infuse it up for you. You both will also gain Skill Points you can put into Crafting Skills to make items of sufficient QL to actually be that powerful, too." The Windgraf took a long, deep breath.

"This... Lady Traveler, this is not what I had expected of today at all. Being able to take a personal hand in regaining my own freedom, instead of cowering inside Heavenbound Hall from all those that want to Bind and Seal me for their own Wishes..."

"You are tremendously vulnerable under the Shroud, and this is how you can be rewarded for the efforts you have put forth. Even if you forget what you have done here... the Hats will remain." That was probably as important to them as being able to make a more personal difference. Both deva and djinn solemnly placed the Hats upon their heads. They both concentrated for a moment, and I saw that initial surge of energy that comes up when someone takes a Class Level. I smiled despite myself.

The Angelos flicked his hand, and up came a Dart of Disruption from Orison. He stared at it thoughtfully for a moment, glancing at me, and then let it fade away.

"I shall be helping power up a lot more Cure Wands and making far more holy water," he mused with a smile.

"And I have a sudden urge to go down to the labs and mix up my first Healing Potion!" the Windgraf chuckled.

"Baby steps," I agreed.

"But unlike me, you're going to be making linear progress every day. I don't know where you're going to top out, but my guess will be Eleven or Twelve." The two extraplanars glanced at one another again, and back at me.

"You doubtless have other things you want to request of us, now that this has happened," the Angelos said. I just nodded.

"I'll be wanting some more Wishes here and there." I flicked out a few pages for each of them, sent them into their hands.

"Leveling guides. I don't want to see either of you in the front line of this fight, but I want to see everybody in the front line using what you make, right?" Both of them looked the sheets over without hurry, nodding and murmuring to themselves as they did so... They wouldn't be advancing as fast as me, taking three days per Level so they could get all their Masteries at the cheapest rates possible and really max out the use of their Karma.

But that just meant that in a month or so, they'd be far, far more powerful than any other Soulborn or Elementals trapped on the planet... ================== Author's Note: Old Grognards will recognize the Hat of Difference from the AD&D Unearthed Arcana book. It fell into total disuse as irrelevant in 3e and later, but in Power of Ten, the ability to give someone Class Levels who normally couldn't take them is very strong...

While it had restrictions, multi-classing in AD&D required you to have a 17 in the Prime Stat of the Class you wanted, making it nigh impossible for most PC's. The Hat got around that limit, but you could only function in one Class at a time, and taking off the Hat returned you to your original Class.