novelraw Chapter 6-22
Chapter 6-22
Every Delver should carry a backup weapon on their person at all times. Do NOT fucking leave it in your Inventory! When you need it – and you will – you’re going to need it right the fuck now. Not when you just happen to have the time to pull it out of that dark magical hole.
The ‘classic’ backup is a big fucking knife. The kind that makes people say, “THAT is a knife.” Acceptable alternatives include shortswords – aka extra big knives – clubs, pistols, wands, hatchets, and so on. Pick two of the above for even more fun.
- Delver’s Guild Handbook, Section 5.3 – “Backup Weapons”
That afternoon I was lying in bed, trying to think about anything other than the crunching sound Trite’s jaws had made when they shattered my arm bones with a single chomp –
Arlo’s voice over the Comms was a very welcome distraction. Curious about what he wanted, I tidied up a bit as the team trickled in. When Arlo arrived, he was accompanied by someone I’d never seen before.
The tall, lithe man was wearing leather armor and had dark hair and bright blue eyes. He looked to Arlo, who gestured to the spare desk. The man walked over to the desk and started removing boxes from his Inventory. Each one was made of a fine, dark wood – it looked a lot like the wood used in Sunland’s inn, and I wondered if it came from the dungeon there. He carefully stacked the boxes in neat piles. I counted seven of them, in a couple of different sizes.
Then he stepped back and produced several much larger boxes made of much less expensive materials. He stacked those on the floor next to the desk, then produced a sheet of paper which he handed to Arlo.
“Your signature please, Mr. Hammersmith,” he said in a smooth voice.
Arlo quickly reviewed the sheet before signing it with the pen the man provided. Once he’d handed everything back, the man sketched a quick salute and strode out of the room. As he left, H’ruk and G’hala entered, the whole team easily filling up my room.
“Well,” I said to Arlo, “I guess these are from your family?”
“Indeed, our new pistols have arrived!”
He examined the stack of boxes, and I joined him. I saw that the two boxes on the top had the names ‘Jayce’ and ‘Raylan’ inscribed on them right into the wood. We quickly distributed them to the team and everyone eagerly opened theirs. There were four smaller and three larger boxes. To my surprise mine was one of the larger ones, along with G’hala’s and H’ruk’s.
Arlo obviously hadn’t received one because he already had his Class weapons, but everyone else got one. When I opened my box, I found a huge, black revolver inside. It had a normal-sized grip, but the rest of it looked like it had grown to massive proportions. Identify.
Item: HAC AdjudicatorType: RevolverCapacity: 6Caliber: 454 Casull / 410 boreLevel: 20 The Hammersmith Arms Company Adjudicator is one of the latest additions to the ever-expanding selection of fine weapons offered by HAC. The Adjudicator is chambered in 454 Casull but also accepts 45 Colt and 410 shotshells up to 3 inches long. This gives it unprecedented flexibility combined with a quick rate of fire from its six-shot cylinder. The foregrip allows excellent control while the 8-inch barrel balances muzzle velocity, accuracy, and portability. When you need one gun that can do it all, yet is still small enough to be carried comfortably, the Adjudicator is the best there is!I was astonished by the item description. First, the fact that it was Level 20 was amazing! From what Arlo had said before, as long as I loaded it with lower-Level ammunition, I could use a higher-Level pistol just fine. The advantage was that I would be able to just keep buying higher-Level ammunition for it over time.
Considering how far away Level 20 seems, I could be using this gun for years! And, according to the description, I can fire shotshells from it as well as regular bullets?! Shit, I can’t wait to try it out!
When I picked it up out of the gorgeous case, I realized it would be impossible for me to fire single-handed. Fortunately, it came with a grip that looked a little bit like the forend of my shotgun under the barrel. With two hands it was possible to lift and control without too many issues.
Amazingly, it felt heavier than my much-larger shotgun. I assumed that had something to do with the higher Level, but I wasn’t sure. It was unloaded, and I hoped the others were as well since my team members were excitedly waving theirs around with no regard for where the barrels were pointed.
Underneath the gun I found a fine dark leather holster and several small metal devices I recognized as ‘speed-loaders’ similar to what Arlo used to quickly reload his pistols. The gun itself was finished in a sleek, deadly black. The handgrip was rubber, and I assumed that was to help with the recoil, like the pad on the butt of my shotgun.
“This is incredible, Arlo, you have to thank your family for me!” I said with a huge grin, and the Pistoleer flushed slightly as everyone else echoed my comments.
“I will certainly convey your gratitude in my next letter home,” he responded. “I have to admit I am surprised they sent you a Level 20 weapon. I suspect they are eager to impress in the hopes of doing more business with Delvers in the future. Having a good relationship with one of the few gun-wielding Delvers can only help that.”
Stolen from NovelBin, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.
I was about to respond and tell him that they were succeeding in impressing me when Raylan complained that his gun was ‘only’ Level 15. It turned out that he, Zaire, Jayce, and Tara had all received identical Level 15 weapons. Curious, I Identified the one Raylan was holding.
Item: HAC RaptorType: Semi-automaticCapacity: 12+1Caliber: 45 MagnumLevel: 15 The Hammersmith Arms Company Raptor is one of the most popular models in the HAC catalog. The Raptor is chambered in 45 Magnum, which strikes a middle ground between the easy-shooting 45 ACP round and the bulkier 50 Magnum. 45 Magnum provides exceptional stopping power in a manageable rimless package.Then I checked out the guns that H’ruk and G’hala had received, which looked just like the giant handguns we’d examined at A–Z, but proved to be slightly different.
Item: HAC 50 Magnum OGType: Semi-automaticCapacity: 14+1Caliber: 50 MagnumLevel: 15 This customized Orc-Grip variant of our Gauntlet-Grip series is perfect for even the largest hands! Featuring our most powerful semi-auto pistol round, the 50 Magnum, the OG weapons are specially designed for maximum stopping power!The twin orcs were very pleased by the massive weapons, which were so big that when I tried to hold one I had to use both hands because my fingers just wouldn’t wrap around the enormous grips.
As expected, the larger boxes on the floor contained what seemed like an enormous amount of ammunition. Each of the orc’s guns came with three huge magazines, while the others got four each. Since mine was a revolver, it came with a set of four large speed loaders instead.
Arlo gave everyone a short but serious talk about gun safety before we loaded up and went out the range to try out our new toys. Well, not toys, but fun and exciting deadly weapons. There was a selection of ammunition for each caliber, with the exception of my 454 Casull which came only in what Arlo called ‘brass solids.’
Unsurprisingly Arlo turned out to be an excellent shooting coach for the team, keeping everyone focused and serious while explaining the key points of gun safety and operation. We certainly attracted quite a bit of attention when we all started shooting. The 50 Magnums the orcs were shooting off boomed almost as loud as my shotgun, and the recoil looked equally impressive.
I made quite an interesting discovery with my Adjudicator – when I loaded it with shotshells I could feel my Shotguns Skill helping me aim and operate the gun. With the 454 Casull rounds, however, the assistance was not there. Apparently the System was treating it like either a pistol or a shotgun based on what ammo I loaded!
I quickly found out that the 454 Casull ammo kicked much harder than the 410 shotshells. To be honest, the shotshells didn’t seem that impressive, since they were considerably smaller than the ones my Class weapon fired. The foregrip on the pistol was the key to controlling the recoil. It wasn’t kicking as hard as my shotgun, but that was braced against my shoulder when I shot it.
This is pretty fucking badass! It would be even better if it always counted as a shotgun for me, but since I wasn’t expecting anything, this is still very nice. I wonder if there are more part-time shotguns like this out there?
Maybe because of my Class, or my experience shooting, I was the first one to pick up the Pistols Skill and even got it to Level 1 before we ran through the hundred rounds of ammunition we’d each brought. The boxes of ammo were impressively heavy.
I was amazed that the man – a Courier of some kind, I assumed – had been able to fit everything in his Inventory at once. We’d received a full thousand rounds per person, along with another two hundred and fifty shotshells. Altogether, the ammunition probably weighed as much as one of the orcs! I regretted not Identifying the man to see what Tier he was.
All in all we had a great fucking time and the team was excited to carry their new backup weapons. Tara decided she’d carry both her wand and the pistol. Wands were so small and light, and didn’t cost anything to use – in terms of money. Raylan, who still wasn’t very good at casting Shadow, wanted to only equip the pistol until I glared him into submission. Carrying around his wand would hopefully remind him to practice his Spells more!
For our Mages, a backup weapon was for when they were out of mana, so they were only going to carry the pistols. Their Class weapons would still serve as emergency melee weapons, of course. At least, for our two regular Mages. I still didn’t know what to call H’ruk, since he was far from a typical Mage.
I moved my cutlass to my left hip and strapped the Adjudicator to my right, having decided I’d rather cross-draw the sword than the gun. With thigh straps on both, I could even run – safely, if far from stealthily.
I was surprised to find that my new pistol was significantly heavier than my cutlass. Still, the two balanced each other out a bit, and everyone agreed that I looked badass walking around with a full load of weapons. I definitely didn’t even have to Intimidate them into agreeing.
The downside was all the weight on my belt, which I had to really tighten to hold everything up. I wondered if there was any chance I still had a bit of growing left to do. For the first time I was seeing a practical use for wider hips. My occasional shifts at the saloon had exposed me to plenty of the stupid things men liked to say about girls when they were drunk. I giggled to myself as I mentally re-phrased one of their obnoxious lines.
Look at her! Those are some gun-belt-bearing hips!
I doubted anyone would ever say that about me, but hey, I could dream. I should probably also buy a better belt though, just in case.
HAC Adjudicator