III-44 Monstrosity

Shape of Monstrosity

Noun

This is a Master-Tier Skill Evolution exclusive to a specific kind of monster: A Cursed Tarrasque. No other being in Integration has been known to receive this Skill Evolution when they advance their Intimidation.

Shape of Monstrosity can be compared to the Feardrinker Individual Pathbearer Intimidation Skill Evolution. However, while Feardrinker merely enhances a Pathbearer’s Physicality by consuming an adversary’s dread—thereby removing their fear as well—Shape of Monstrosity transforms the Tarrasque on both a physical and spiritual level. It boosts not only the monster’s physical and magical skills, but it also lets the Tarrasque regard “fear” as a tactile object it can seize.

This is where the “shape” in the skill title comes from. When the Tarrasque uses this skill, its body shifts into a canvas of horror. It retains the same dimensions, but the space around it warps to assail the mind of the observer. Many firsthand accounts from Pathbearers who have survived Cursed Tarrasque encounters have also spoken about festering, jagged tendrils that reach and clench around their flesh.

This likely is the psycho-tactile representation of the fear-construct mentioned above. Its tensile strength is determined by just how much terror the observer feels.

CAUTION: Having a Psychomancy Skill or being a Psychomancer on your team when facing a Cursed Tarrasque is non-negotiable. Short of being utterly devoid of fear, every bit of terror you feel will be magnified and then siphoned to further enhance the beast’s destructive power.

-Encyclopedia Apocalyptia

III-44

Monstrosity

Shiv didn’t notice his Dread Aura’s Skill Evolution; he was too busy dissecting Band at a spiritual level. Even as the Deathless peeled the orc’s outer flesh apart, he never lost his bloody grin, as if taunting Shiv to do worse, to try and make it hurt. But Shiv was done playing this game. He had been led on by the orcs long enough. If he tried to beat them on their own grounds, tried to overpower them through domination and cruelty, he would lose.

For as much as he enjoyed battle and killing bastards, the orcs loved it all. They didn’t break like people did, and they would never give him any satisfaction—for it was a final display of triumph on their part. That he couldn’t break them. That he could never get more from them than they took.

So Shiv stopped seeking satisfaction and started going for pure effect. The first point was to teach the orcs consequences. But that wasn’t going to come with Band dying. No. Band would live. But there would be nothing left of him. The Deathless was going to make him a wretched, broken thing.

A screaming mass of flesh and ruined soulstuff.

A burst of white and red mana washed over Shiv as Band’s Magical Resistance shattered completely. The Deathless ignored the magical shrapnel and continued. His Vitae dug deep into Band’s soul, and Shiv moved without any gentleness. His streams were like blade-covered serpents burrowing their way the supple inner organs of a person. Band writhed, and for the first time, the smile on his face twisted into a grimace.

Orcs had good pain resistance, but it wasn’t infinite.

Band’s sudden reaction had Whisper and Mortar chuckling. Tequila simply let out a disappointed sigh. “That ego was always going to get you broken some day, dear friend,” Tequila proclaimed solemnly. He shook his head at Band, but took no action to stop Shiv. And there was that orcish Psychopathy again. They did care for people and things, but it was a cold, brutal caring. The kind of caring where they enjoyed you, they were amused by you, but ultimately, they weren’t that empathic for you.

For humans, this was unnatural. Shallow. For orcs, all things were transient. Aside from memory. Aside from life.

“I will miss you, though,” Tequila continued. “I am not sure if I will ever know your like again, Band.”

“Oh, you’ll be able to visit him later,” Shiv whispered under his breath. He found the first of Band’s Skills, and he speared into it. He lashed at the strange pathway, expanding his Vitae once he delved its depths. Shiv wasn’t looking for an Animated Skill Infusion, he wanted to break Band foundationally. Utterly. The insides of the skill resisted for a moment. Just a moment. Then it shattered like a glass cage trying to contain a bomb. Band’s midsection burst apart into a flood of rope-like viscera, and the orc’s eyes rolled up into his skull. Shiv strained—ripped at Band’s vitality. It tore like a piece of fabric. But the Deathless continued. Pieces fell away Band’s body. Limbs were severed one after another. Eyes were burst. Ears were caved in. The orc’s throat was crushed completely.

Through it all, Band never resisted. Never tried to fight back. The quiet wrath inside Shiv commanded him to continue, but all the recent levels empowering his Psychology made him think. Just as he prepared to inflict another eternal wound on Band, he studied the orcs and suddenly did a double-take.

They were silent, watching him with glistening eyes of admiration. More than their rapt attentions, he also noticed something else. There were countless strange, bladed tendrils growing out from his body, connecting him to thousands of orcs. The tendrils were the texture of his bone adamantine with patches of gray flesh. Orcish flesh. Shiv’s mind went blank at the sight of them, confused as to where they came from and why they were growing out from his flesh. He turned away from Band and gripped one of the tendrils. To his surprise, he could feel it, touch it, and pull on it.

And that was when he realized his own body looked than before. Shiv blinked. He had sunken so deep into a state of hatred and bloodthirst toward Band that he didn’t even notice the physiological changes happening across his body. The surface of his bone armor had changed. The faces of screaming orcs were carved into the bones, and from the deep depressions that formed their eyes came blood and tears. Shiv then noticed how the world was bending around him, his very presence manifesting an eerie distortion that twisted light itself. Adam’s azure sun folded around Shiv’s being, but never settled upon his body fully. It was as if the brightness was too afraid to touch his flesh.

The tendrils were also pulsating with a substance. Fear. Shiv could feel it. Taste it. He knew the feeling so well, wielded and sensed it using Dread Aura. And now it was completely transformed. Instead of it simply existing as a presence in the world that he could feel, it was something he amplified, he absorbed, and he could move. And absorbed was the key word here. Shiv felt another boost entering his body. Plaguefueled had already exaggerated his physical features. Fear only made his muscles stronger, his body harder, his reflexes sharper. But his magical fields were dramatically expanded as well.

His Biomancy field alone expanded to become a sphere of nearly a full kilometer. Shiv blinked as he felt the sheer amount of mana at his disposal. And he knew it knew this wasn’t his power alone. No. It was something fed to him by all the orcs, empowering him to an extreme level. He also looked toward Adam and realized the Gate Lord was bleeding fear as well.

“Shiv,” Adam said, his voice controlled, but his heart pounding fast. “You seem to have developed a sense of… Uva-envy.”

Shiv regarded the fear-forged connection binding him to Adam. Unlike with the orcs, what existed between him and Adam was a chain of sky-blue metal and bone, and it glistened with blood and gristle.

Uva frowned at the skill and reached out tentatively to touch the chain. But her hands went right through. Comparatively, Shiv took hold of the chain just fine, and tugged on it lightly. He ended up pulling Adam a few steps toward him.

“What kind of nightmarish bloody skill did you develop now,” Adam asked. He shuffled back a few steps, but every time he looked at Shiv, he winced and averted his eyes. Shiv was about to ask why, but then he noticed how his bone armor changed when he was facing Adam. Instead of it being ritually decorated with screaming orc faces, it was now a layer of flayed flesh, and at the center of his chest, Adam’s severed skull was lodged in place.

“Shit,” Shiv breathed, looking down, “the notification wasn’t kidding. Shape of Monstrosity is right.”

Shape of Monstrosity 101 > 102

“Shape of—” Adam gawked. “Why have I heard of that name before.”

Valor, who had been watching Shiv up to now, finally spoke—

But was cut off by the Challenger’s booming laughter. “I knew it. I tasted something different about you from the start, bruiser. No human has that much tolerance for violence and struggle. None other than you. And now, with this wonderful scenario I have set up, I see you get a skill meant for a Cursed Tarrasque. Only for a Cursed Tarrasque. Not just an ape. You got a monster hiding inside that little body. You have an imprint of a tarrasque in your mind and soul.”

Shiv looked at Valor for confirmation, and the Legendary Pathbearer just grunted. “Yes. He speaks true. And you engineered this moment, didn’t you, Challenger? You sacrificed one of your orcs to shape this experience—to push him to gain this Skill Evolution?”

The sky above thundered as the Challenger just sighed. “Your problem, lich, is that you always lacked spontaneity. You think everything is a scheme because your life has been drowned in deception, darkness, and politics. No. I saw an opportunity. I took it. Of course, I did push my orcs to push the moment so we can get through the pointless delay, and now here we are. With the Insul evolved and an army at your side.”

“Your army,” Shiv said, pointing his Skysplitter up at the clouds. “Not ours.”

“Incorrect,” the Challenger replied. “They are your army. They came here for you. They want to fight beside you. To see just what havoc and bloodshed you might bless them. What chaos and trials you will face. For so many summers, they have fought and refined themselves at Lone Star. Now, they wish to do something different. Something special. So don’t let them down, bruiser. A bored orc is a dangerous orc.”

“I would have taken your felling offer,” Shiv snarled. Flashes passed through his mind. Dead Umbrals. Dead Weaveresses. Fires rising in the surface district. Dead civilians. “You—-” Shiv clenched his jaw as he cut himself off. “You wanted this. You wanted me this way. You wanted me to break Band.” He looked at the mutilated orc. Stripped of limb and senses, Band was smiling. Still smiling. Always smiling. He was like an infant who just had a smashing dream. “Is that it? You’re using him as a sacrifice? Something to figure me out some more? Sell me your orcs?

He looked at the near three million orcs around him and studied their expressions, their postures. The Challenger wasn’t lying. They were all excited. They wanted this. They wanted to be here. And with the act of mass murder he just committed—and Band’s spiritual ruination on top of that—he just got made into an orcish celebrity.

“There are many reasons why things turned out as they did. But you could have prevented this. If you were more careful. If you were more aware. If you were more skilled. You could have prevented this. The deaths are not to be blamed on me. Such an act was Band’s choice—and your inadequacy. You know what I am. You know what an orc is. Throw your fit if you must, but it means little, and matters little. And you know this.”

Shiv just glared up at the raw, red clouds split by thick patches of smog. “And you know that I’m going to hold onto the shit you and your orcs did when I reach Legendary and beyond. You know that I’m going to keep that close to me when I eventually come for you.”

Some of the tendrils connecting him to the orcs hardened. His Biomancy field grew past a kilometer. Even more fear flooded his body and soul.

“Oh, I look forward to it, bruiser,” the Challenger said. “But for now, you have other matters to attend. And an army to discipline. I take my leave of you. Do with Band and these orcs what you will. But understand that they are soldiers. Not slaves. Keep their interests. Give them a proper fight. Or they will seek their own amusements. And my orcs are very proactive.”

“Before you go,” Shiv said, “I want you to know that any orc that does this shit again will be broken.” He clenched a fist and another part of Band’s soul burst apart. He was gasping for life as a small ocean of blood poured from his many open wounds. “Like Band here. And if you do more than that, I’m going to set myself off in the Tutorial.”

“Ah. Do to my dimension what you unleashed on Vulketh? Quite the threat.” The Challenger didn’t sound scared at all. “Alas, Scorn was unfocused. Easy to provoke. And recall what the Vicar managed. And understand that I find his master over magic… acceptable.”

“Acceptable?” Adam gawked.

“Yes. His theories are sound. But his power is lacking. If you think you would be the first to unleash a weapon of mass destruction on the Tutorial, you would be wrong. I, myself, have destroyed this place more times than I can remember. If you do set yourself off, you will kill many of my orcs. But that will be all you do. And that will be if I don’t grasp your collapsing Vitae much like the Vicar did. Or inflict worse upon you. I appreciate your willingness to threaten me. But consider your methods further. That is my feedback.”

Adam blinked. Shiv just snorted. “Yeah. Feedback taken. But you wait, Challenger. Someday, I will burn you. I’ll break you. If there’s any wisdom in you at all, you best strike us down now. Because I’m coming for you.”

Uva glared alongside him until the last part. Then her expression turned into one of unease. “Shiv, why—don’t tell the god to strike us down.”

“He won’t,” Shiv said with a slight sneer. “For the same reason I didn’t kill Whisper earlier. Or hurt him. Because it would mean I have power over him in some way. And would that be a shame? Or maybe that would hurt you more than an actual wound, wouldn’t it, Challenger? To betray yourself by doing what someone else wanted you to do.”

Psychology 24 > 25

“It would. Ah. Quite good. Quite good. Finally. You are starting to use that cruel little mind of yours more. Do so. It will prove a more dangerous weapon than the blunt instrument you are forging your body into in the long run. For now. I must depart. There is a certain angry god I wish to taunt—and guide along a path of revenge as well.”

And with a final hum of amusement, the thundering presence of the Challenger receded, leaving Shiv alone. Alone with the Tutorial. Alone with the orcs.

“Bloody hells,” Adam breathed as his eyes gleamed bright with mana. His Righteous Dawn Prevails burned bright behind him, shrouding him in light. Between that, his bow, and his diamond wings, he looked like a divine avenger. Unfortunately, his expression was that of a terrified boy. “Shiv, do you think—”

“The asshole’s talking about Lord Scorn,” Shiv said without hesitation. “Because of course he is. Because all this is just a thing of amusement for him. You’re going to be dealing with the Vultegs again, Adam. And probably soon.”

Adam nodded uneasily. Then he froze. “What do you mean I am?”

“The Challenger hasn’t told Scorn my name. He just knows me as the Corpse-Shedder. That could be anyone. It’s probably a rogue Necrotech or something, from the looks of it. But you, the illustrious Adam Arrow—”

“Oh, that big godsdamned bastard,” Adam snarled. “Why? Why would he do this?”

“Well,” Shiv said. “If I was a completely amoral bastard, I would probably do it for entertainment alone. But also, he probably finds it funny, wants me to focus on him and his orcs, and maybe if you get killed fighting the Vultegs, I’ll end up leading an orcish army into Vulketh in another war or something. The opportunities for strife are countless, and the Challenger’s just the kind of clever, cruel shit to capitalize on each and every opportunity.”

The Gate Lord blinked. “Oh, Ascendants.”

“Yeah,” Shiv agreed.

Psychology 25 > 26

Uva took all that in and frowned. Her eyes went from Shiv to the few million orcs all around them as she sighed. “What are we going to do with them?”

Shiv watched the orcs and they watched him back. He studied the curiosity in their eyes, their breaths misting the air, and the weapons and mana that lit their body. He also noted how he was the only one they were looking at. No one else from his group were of any consequence to the orcs. They came here because he committed a massacre on the Vultegs, and was about to lead them into another.

Awareness 20 > 21

“I don’t think you guys are supposed to do anything with the orcs,” Shiv said. “That’s going to be me. I’ll interface with them. I’ll talk to them. I’ll handle everything about them. You guys focus on designating objectives, keeping the gate stable, and ensuring everything is fine on the other side. I’m moving my Court Leviathan here and setting up beside the gateway.”

“What?” Adam said. “Are you—”

“It’s his best way of protecting the rest of you,” Whisper said, grinning at Adam. “He will serve as gatekeeper and Insul. And so long as he is here, we will not wander overmuch to your space. To threaten your people. To ruin your lives.”

A shudder of worry came from Uva. Shiv looked at her—and winced as he noticed a fear-chain connecting her to him as well. He didn’t like seeing that. She was afraid of him, too. Everyone was—

What the hells did I think was going to happen when I got this skill, Shiv thought. With everything I’ve done, people don’t just shrug that off. People can’t. The ones who aren’t me can’t, at the very least.

“I believe this to a wise, if unfortunate choice,” Valor said. “We have confronted the Challenger, and I do not think he will attempt to betray us directly. But the gate is still in passing danger. Everyone is when there is an orc nearby.”

Mortar studied Valor. “Hey. Bones. You’re a Legend, right? How much fight do you reckon you can put up right now—”

Shiv seized the tendril of fear connecting him to Mortar. He pulled hard with his gravitic field. The orc was ripped off his feet. But halfway through, the tendril snapped—and immediately began to reform. In the same moment, Shiv brought Mortar as a blunt weapon on Band. The larger orc slammed hard against the violinist. Band’s already ruined body let out a series of ear-piercing crunches. Mortar groaned as he was brought down time and time again.

Laughter and cheers erupted from the orcs below. But with that came something else—fear. Fear that made Shiv stronger, faster, more magically potent. As he dropped Mortar on Band a final time, he flung the massive orc off into the distance as he looked down at the bloody smear that was Band. The dying orc gurgled and wheezed. Shiv cast his Psychomancy into the orc’s mind. “Be seeing you soon, Band. You don’t get to just die so easily. No. You stay screaming in the dark. But I still got a use for your memories. For what you known. For the knowledge I intend to take. I’m not playing your kind anymore. I get you now. Dominance. So. I’m just going to force you. I’m just going to take from your kind. Any way I can. Every way I can.”

Philosophy 9 > 10

And across the link, Band managed a final, disbelieving laugh. “We turned you into one of us pretty fast, didn’t we? Or maybe it was always there. Maybe it was always you.”

Shiv’s right eye twitched. He brought his boot down on Band’s skull. A resounding crack was accompanied by a burst of force. Adam flinched back and looked away. Uva used her shield to ward off the shockwave. Both Valor and Can Hu were driven back, but Shiv didn’t care. His insides burned with ice-cold fire.

Around his right foot was a crack of blood and pasted flesh. “Alright,” Shiv said, turning to face the orcs again. He drew in a breath and wondered what he was going to say. He stopped wondering a second later as honesty took hold. As his instincts sharpened. They came to fight a war, and he was going to sell it to them. “You’re here for blood, aren’t you?”

“YES!” The orcs below raved with joy and shared glee. They weren’t like a human army driven to passionate fervor, trying to amp themselves up. No. They were like patrons at a bar, preparing to break into song.

“Good. I got a war for you. A real one. I don’t know what you’re doing at Lone Star, but I bet you won’t get to kill a Necrotech Legend there.”

Several orcs began to salivate outright.

“Vicar Sullain!” Shiv shouted. “That’s who we’re gonna kill by the end of this. That’s who’s skull I want. And you’re going to help me get him. Him. His Necrotechs. Compact. The First Blood. And the rogue Republic Inquisitors who are coming to our gate.” Shiv let out a breath as he gave the orcs a moment to digest the moment. “But don’t know about you. And they don’t know they’re coming to die!”

A joyous chorus of cheers rose. Orcs slammed their weapons together.

Skill Gained: Rhetoric 1 (Common)

Leadership 1 > 4

“Where the hells did this come from,” Adam whispered. He looked at Shiv with undisguised astonishment.

“The gut,” Shiv grunted in reply. He raised his voice again. “And it’s the truth. We got problems on all sides! But I think that’s going to need to change. I don’t want to have problems. I want to be the problem. We’ve been reacting and trying to keep up. We’ll. We’re done with that. No more keeping up now that you violent shits are here. I need firestarters. I need butchers. I need monsters. Because we’re going to be fighting monsters. And—and—”

Shiv’s mind went blank as he turned to Adam and Uva for advice.

The Psychomancer winced. “I don’t know—public speaking unnerves me.”

“And I want to be the bigger monster!” Adam suggested. “No. I want them to learn who the real monsters are.”

Shiv turned back to the orcs. “And I want to show them who the real monsters are.”

“Almost fucked it up,” an orc heckled.

Shiv snorted, found the orc’s fear-chain, and pulled them off their feet. As the orc sailed through the air, Shiv flung Band’s remains at them. The corpse burst apart in mid-air as it struck the yanked orc—and then both of them splattered into each other.

Initiate-Tier, Shiv snorted. Teach you to be a heckler.

“Feedback received,” Shiv replied. “Anyone else got advice for me?”

Roaring laughter washed through the orcs. But a few looked at him with expressions of careful consideration. Shiv regarded those orcs. And then he went a step further.

“First. I wanna get a feel for what you can do. I got almost three million of you, and I’m guessing you’re all blooded warriors. You know how this war shit works?”

A unified roar of agreement came from the orcs and Shiv let out a breath. “Alright. That’s good at least. Then, I want you sorted across the Tiers. And I want to see the Heroes right here. On this here mountain. Masters, get yourselves together behind them. Adepts, Initiates, Commons, make yourselves neat and tidy.”

And some of the orcs booed. “He needs help sorting us. Bah! Insul’s human after all. Always organizing this and arranging that.”

“Yeah,” Shiv shouted back. “I’m trying to figure out which of you I intend to send at the vampires, which of you to use on the Inquisition, and which of you I’ll unleash on the Necrotechs. But congratulations, dumbshit, you just volunteered for guard duty here while you’re friends have fun.”

The complaining orc let out a loud cry of dismay as the other brutes around them jeered and bullied him for his stupidity.

“Shiv,” Adam asked, his body extremely still. “What are you planning?”

“I'll sort them into groups first. Maybe try to figure out a command structure. You know more about that than I do. Hells, they know a lot more of that then I do. But we got an opportunity now. To open a way to Blackedge. To sabotage and raid the First Blood. To intercept the Inquisition’s coming forces. We have the manpower now. I just… I need to have them focused on someone or something that isn’t us. And we’re going to spend them. Spend their lives. Spend their skills.”

Shiv stared hard at the Gate Lord. “And I need you to figure something out with Null Mont. Maybe move the obsidian tower too. You’re going to need constant patrols around this place. More defenses. We’re going to need a way to connect the Tutorial Gateway to the surface or something. Something that won’t let the orcs interact with the people there. I’ll entertain them for now. But there’s a lot of shit we need to figure out.”

“Would you like a suggestion?” Whisper asked.

“No!” Adam cried.

“Silence,” Uva hissed.

“Sure,” Shiv replied.

Both the archer and the Psychomancer stared at Shiv in surprise.

“We’re not wasting the orcs,” Shiv said. “They’re here. I’m going to use them. I’m just not going to trust them. The people who died were my fault. I needed to watch the orcs closer. I should have always kept them close to me. To keep them entertained or focused on something. So I’ll learn from that, but we don’t waste them. We use them. Because they’re going to use us otherwise.”

“You’re getting smart, Deathless,” Mortar coughed. Shiv looked down the mountain, and he saw the orc clambering back up. Half his face was a bruise, Band’s gore painted his torso, and one of his mechanical legs was missing. Even so, he had the largest grin on his face. His expression was that of a boy who just leaped from his swing. “Getting real good at understanding who we are. What we are.”

“I’m learning,” Shiv muttered in response. “Whisper?”

“We can now do many things at once,” Whisper said. “The First Blood can be raided. Constantly. But understand that any orcs you unleash as marauders will find amusement on whoever they encounter. That means your precious non-combatants will be at constant risk. So. Be mindful. The same goes for the surface.

As Adam frowned at the orc, Shiv just nodded. “Yeah. I know. Adam. I need a set of objectives. I need maps. I need to give these orcs shit to do.” He paused, then raised an eyebrow. “Actually, I’ll got something to do myself.” He looked down at the orcs. “Hey. Assholes! I need a kitchen!”

For the first time, the orcs just looked up at him dumbfounded.

Nearby, Tequila started cackling like a hyena.

“You heard me,” Shiv continued. “Kitchen. Skillet big enough to cook a dragon. Cauldrons. Stove. The works. Get to making one. You’re godsdamned monsters, but I’m not letting you kill shit on an empty stomach. You’re going to taste some leviathan tentacle soup.” He huffed. “I’m going to need to bring Courtney over too.” And then something else occurred to him as he noticed the sheer number of orc Biomancers present. Psychomancers as well. “Wait, I might be able to pilot the damned Court Leviathan. Fuck that, I got Practical Metabiology tutors too.”

And suddenly, parts of this whole orc army thing didn’t seem so bad anymore. He still needed to keep the large, gray monsters away from the gate, though.

Uva just stared at Shiv with her jaw slightly open. Can Hu shared her incredulity with a narrowing of his optics. “Pathbearer,” the Penitent began. “Is your solution to all issues just cooking or violence.”

“They’ve worked for me perfectly so far.” He looked to the orcs again. “Also, who here knows how to pilot a Court Leviathan?” A few thousand fists went up. Shiv laughed. “Fuck yeah. Wait! Biomancers! Sort yourselves out into another group. I got some questions for you later. A lot of questions. Has any one of you read Odes of Blood—”

“Everyone’s read that!” one of the orcs called out. “It’s a good book.”

“Kind of funny, too,” another orcs said.

“I don’t like how much time Ekkihurst spends eating and torturing people,” an orc complained. “It’s pointless. Just kill and get it done.”

Other orcs heckled him. He cursed back at them. And rather than fighting, what seemed to be a civil forum on the merits of brutal cruelty versus effective inflictions of pain and murder took hold.

Adam shivered. “Shiv. Are you… seriously considering learning Biomancy from them?”

“Why not? It’s going to be a while till I can get back to the Cradle. Got no one but the book. And now I got a lot of people. Listen, can you get someone to fly Courtney over? And bring some of the basilisks too? Teleport them across. There’s stuff I want to do.”

The Gate Lord slowly turned to Uva. “Uva. Say something. Say something before he turns into more of a monster.”

“Shiv,” Uva said. “They’re not teaching you any Psychomancy. That’s solely my domain.”

Shiv regarded the iron in her eyes and nodded slowly.

An orc laugh. “Afraid we’re gonna steal your nice lay from you, Umb—” One of Uva’s Psychomancy strands whipped out and straightened. The orc let out a loud cry. More laughter followed.

“Look at the dumb bastard twitch. Everyone loot his stuff and hide them. See how long it takes for him to find it once he recovers.”

A collective cheer rose at that suggestion.

Adam sighed. “Shiv. Promise me you won’t develop a terminal case of orcis bastardistis if you’re going to be spending time with them.”

“Is that a real thing?” Shiv asked.

“No. But since you’re here, it might just become real soon.”