Azure: Gunner

Chapter 6-17

The vast majority of Skills and Spells are not specifically regulated. Of course, using them against another person in anything other than self-defense, consensual training, or regulated duels can get you in loads of trouble.

For various reasons, some justified and others idiotic, the law generally treats the use of damaging Skills and Spells the same as the use of deadly weapons. Non-damaging effects including debuffs like Slow are often seen as a lesser offense, though the law leaves broad latitude for interpretation in this area.

However, there is one specific category of abilities that are restricted in very specific detail – anything with a ‘mind-altering’ effect. The most well-known examples are the varied Skills obtainable by Merchants and similar Classes which can impact negotiations.

Only slightly less famous are Taunts – broadly categorized as any ability that enrages others and incites them to attack.

- Delver’s Guild Handbook, Section 3.13 – "Restricted Skills”

At dinner that night I finally asked a question that had been bugging me for a while.

“G’hala, why do you yell out ‘Balance!’ when you use it? I’ve never heard of any Skill that has to be said out loud before.”

The Shaman gave me a fang-filled grin.

“I don’t call out because my Skill requires it. It is to warn my Squad to prepare for the sudden transfer of injuries to them,” she explained.

“Oh, uh, that makes a lot of sense. Yes, as your Squad Leader I insist that you keep doing that, unless we are trying to sneak around somewhere. Maybe you can do it over the Comms instead of out loud?”

“It is traditional to vocalize the warning, so that other allies outside the Squad are prepared. I suppose if we are actually hiding from enemies then I can use the Comms. That does not seem very likely in this Squad, however.”

I grumbled into my bowl of stew as everyone else laughed at me.

I’ll be stealthy some day, just you all wait and see! Stealthy az a shadowcat! Get it? Stealthy AZ a shadowcat? Waste it, I am terrible at jokes… I can’t even convince myself to say them out loud most of the time!

As the week progressed, the instructors continued to keep us apart from what we now called Clarice’s Squad, since she seemed to have taken over. Squad Deathdealers was promoted to the advanced track, and we started having Squad vs Squad sparring matches during Squad Combat, finally getting a chance to use the huge 200-foot wide fighting pit.

Squad combat turned out to be exciting, fast-paced, and brutal. Momentum could flip in moments if you managed successfully to gang up on individual enemies with superior numbers. Since the Deathdealers were a Squad of six, we usually had to have two of our team sit out to even up the fight.

We also didn’t get to fight them as often as I wanted, since they were also called upon to fight Clarice’s team. It was obvious they were being used as a tool to keep us apart, but they were getting quite good. So maybe it wasn’t a cheap trick, it was just… an adequately priced one?

We started to get to know their team better as the days passed. They had a Fighter who used a two-handed warhammer, a Ranger, a Healer, an Arbalist and two Mage-types – one Fire Mage and one Warlock. Warlock was an interesting Class that summoned shadow creatures to fight for them. The shadows only lasted for a few minutes at a time, but had the ability to let physical attacks pass through them harmlessly.

The only person in our team who could damage the shadows reliably was G’hala. The Shaman’s Spiritual Strike Skill could damage them even when they turned insubstantial. As for the rest of us, we didn’t deal any direct magical damage – Zaire’s Earth Spikes were literally made of rock. Even firebolts and infusing my weapon with Fire didn’t work, and neither did H’ruk’s Fire infusion.

If they could see our attacks coming, they would become intangible, and my pellets would fly right through them without triggering the infusion. The only way I could hurt them was by shooting them while they were looking in a different direction. Thankfully, the Warlock could only summon one at a time, and they didn’t do a lot of damage. But they were distracting as fuck, and you couldn’t see through them easily even when they were insubstantial.

Despite the pain-in-the-ass Warlock, Squad Combat was a lot of fun. Aside from the occasional impaling and subsequent healing, of course. The rest of our classes continued pretty much as they had before. On Wednesday, JJ pulled me aside after Melee Combat while everyone else went off to do their Sprints.

“Az, you need to talk to Zaire. He’s not taking this class seriously. I’ve yelled at him enough with no results. If he doesn’t start to improve his staff work, I’m going to recommend he be dropped from the advanced track.”

“You mean he’d be kicked out of my Squad?” I asked, shocked.

The Berzerker nodded. “Yes, he would. Want to avoid that? Just convince him to get serious about this. I don’t give a shit how good he is with his Spells, that’s not my job. Look, I get that the advanced track is a bit of a mess this semester, but I still expect a certain level of performance and especially effort from anyone on it. Understood?”

I bit my lip but as much as I wanted to defend my teammate, I knew that JJ was right. Zaire loved magic, and he’d become comfortable with Bolt, giving him three modifiers to work with. Once he mastered some more base runes, he’d be even more of a terror in a fight. He could cast Fire already, but not fast enough for his tastes yet.

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He just didn’t care for either PT or Melee Combat. I could understand his attitude in PT since he’d never get stronger or faster with exercise, but he had no real excuse for slacking off in Melee Combat.

I pulled him aside after our now-daily post-dinner Sprint. The manaborn Earth Mage had the same hint of a smile on his face that he always got after casting a bunch of Spells, but it died quickly when he saw my expression.

“Look Mage Zaire, JJ told me that you’re gonna get kicked out of the advanced track if you don’t start improving in Melee Combat,” I told him bluntly.

“Gunner Azure, it is an inefficient use of my time and energy. Every hour I spend practicing my Spells benefits myself and the team far more than simply swinging my staff around like a club!”

I folded my arms and gave him a stern look. “You won’t be benefiting the team at all if you’re not in it,” I pointed out the obvious, then burst out laughing at the expression on his face.

“Oh Waste it Zaire, you have the worst pouty face I’ve ever seen!” I couldn’t stop giggling for another minute, which just made his expression even funnier. It looked like he had observed someone else pout – definitely not me – and then tried to paste the expression onto his face. The problem was that his forehead was all scrunched up like he was mad at something.

“My friend, you look like you’re trying to take a shit and it's not coming out,” added Raylan, who’d stopped to see what the fuss was about, and we both dissolved in laughter for a moment. Once we finally collected ourselves, I went back to my original point.

“Starting from right now, we’re going to practice staff work for at least half an hour every night after our Sprint, until you convince JJ that you’re good enough to stay with our team,” I told him.

“Gunner Az – “ he started, and I cut him off.

“No arguments, Mage Zaire. You’re one of my best friends, and one of the best Mages in our class too. You’d better get your shit together, because I don’t want you kicked off the team! And I definitely don’t want you to get killed when you run out of mana or get surprised by a monster at close range!”

I was starting to get angry with my friend for the first time, and I glared at him in frustration. Suddenly I noticed a drain on my stamina, and Zaire actually took a step back, his eyes widening.

“Of course, Gunner Azure, just please stop looking at me like that!

” he exclaimed, and I forced myself to look away for a moment and calm down.“Fuck Az, that’s wild!” Raylan broke in. “Your eyes just lit up bright blue and I could feel your anger! That was Intimidation?” he finished, awed.

“Shit, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to use that Skill on you!” I apologized frantically to Zaire. “It just seems to happen on its own sometimes!”

“Skills don’t activate by accident, Gunner Az,” Zaire said stiffly. “There is no need to threaten me, I will do what I must.”

Raylan stepped in and wrapped an arm around the Mage’s shoulders. He gently steered him away from me while giving me a thumbs-up behind his back.

“Listen buddy, I hate to say it but I think she did need to threaten you! Come on, let’s get that practice in now before we go back to our room, all right?”

Sighing in frustration, I stomped off towards the dorm. I need to talk to someone about this Skill… I really didn’t mean to do that to Zaire! It shouldn’t be just activating on its own, right? I had a sudden, suspicious thought as I slumped down in my chair.

“PAST, why the fuck does Intimidate activate on its own when I’m not even trying to use it?”

[Skills activate when called upon, Gunner Zimmerman! Except for passive Skills, of course!]

“But I didn’t try to use it, PAST, that’s my point! I wasn’t trying to Intimidate Zaire!”

[An interesting claim, Citizen! Were you not trying to convince him to do what you wanted?!]

“Yeah, but – “

[And was he initially amenable to your request?!]

“No, but – “

[And were you not wishing you had a way to make him do as you wanted?!]

“NOT LIKE THAT!”

[Then how?!]

I crossed my arms, definitely not pouting. At least, if I were to pout, I would be doing a much better job of it than Zaire. Theoretically.

I’m not sure I like this Skill very much… Is it going to keep happening whenever I try to get my way? I think I need to talk to someone else about this besides the fucking System.

The next day I could tell that Zaire was still mad at me. I tried to apologize again, but he ignored me stubbornly. I looked for Wolf in the restaurant and the bar after dinner, but he wasn’t there. At least Zaire did practice with Raylan again, though he would have been better – or perhaps worse – off working with H’ruk or G’hala instead.

On Friday I strode after Wolf when we finished Team Combat and asked to speak to him privately. He raised his eyebrows, but nodded and led me to the bar. He pulled out his privacy ward and activated it. I eyed it more respectfully now that I knew how expensive they were, then started explaining the situation to him. He didn’t seem surprised at my story.

“I thought I saw something the other day when you and Clarice were going at it. You’re going to have to be careful with this one Az, it’s not a well-liked Skill for obvious reasons.”

He went on to tell me how it wasn’t illegal to have the Skill, because it could actually be used on monsters. However, it was illegal to use on anyone below your Tier, just like many Merchant’s Skills.

“It’s legally considered a mind-altering Skill, Az. Since you’re Tier 0, technically you can try to use it on anyone right now without breaking the law, but naturally some people will resist it and get pissed off at you for trying. It’s a very dangerous habit to get into, because then you’ll find yourself using it more and more naturally in the future. Eventually you’ll use it on someone you shouldn’t have.”

“I’m not trying to use it at all! It just keeps happening,” I protested.

“Yeah, and it will keep happening for a while until you learn to control it better. I’ve heard it gets easier as it Levels. But, you’ll need to work on controlling your emotions as well. Unfortunately for you, the tell is extremely blatant, so anyone you use it on will notice, as will anyone watching. It’s normally more subtle, but I guess this version fits your personality.”

He grinned at me as I gave him the finger for that last remark.

“So what you’re saying is that I need to use it more now, so I can Level it, but not too much more?”

He shrugged. “I don’t have it myself, but that’s my understanding. Talk to JJ about it if you want to know more, I’m sure he’s either got it or has friends who do.”

I wasn’t sure what Wolf had told me was worth being late to System History. Not that I minded missing part of the boring class, but it wasn’t like I could sneak into the classroom without everyone noticing that I was coming in late.

Maybe I should have taken Stealth after all…