52 - Twin Serpents [Cherno]

“Give me something that will best support skirmish combat. I don’t see myself going head-to-head with an overwhelming enemy,” Krahe said.

Garvesh reached for the display case, but Casus stopped him.

“Ah ah ah- Come now. We are not regular customers.”

“I’ve got a stolen Silversword prototype on display, d’you think I would-”

“A last-generation stolen prototype. Every recruit signed to the Silversword Agency who reaches the signing bonus payoff quota is given one of those Silver Slip Keys.”

“Maybe I should’ve…” Garvesh started with a retort, only to stop himself. He sighed, then reached under the counter and took out two single-piece display cases, lining them up side by side. Unlike his other products, these boxes looked new, and even had tiny lenses at the back that suggested inbuilt eyeboxes. With a snap of his fingers, these lenses came alive and projected the detailed readout for each key.

The right-hand key instantly grabbed her attention with its extravagant appearance, in no small part because it was a sibling to the Jas’raban Threefold; the Jas’raban Epta, it was called, and had a seven-pointed star for a head. Unlike the Threefold, it wasn’t pointed. Seven rectangular, flat sections emerged from the keyhead, each patterned in such a complex manner that they resembled microprinted circuitry.

The left-hand key, designed to resemble two serpents coiled together, bore the same benefits as the Purgation Chimney at a heightened degree. One serpent was tarnished-black and its maw gaped open at a 180° angle, serving as the key’s head, while the other was silver and with its head tucked behind its sibling’s.

She appraised both of them to ascertain that their properties matched the description.

“I figured it would be the Epta that got your attention. This…” he gestured to the left-hand key. “Is what the Purgation Chimney was an imitation of. Real rock-solid piece, but I had a feeling you’d go for the Epta. Don’t mind the price tag, I’ll do you for fifty, I’ll be nice.”

He wasn’t being nice. He was jumping on an opportunity to make a sale and potentially secure a returning customer. Krahe didn’t mind; most of it wasn’t her own money anyway.

“No, I’ll take the snakes.”

“Really? Very well. That one’s forty.”

“Do me for thirty-five. Be nice.”

“How ‘bout you go fuck yourself for free, huh? Thirty-seven.”

“Deal.”

“You can have the memslate,” he said, premoving a panel on the back of the box. From there he removed a small memoryslate made of a fired clay of some sort. “It’s one of the cheapshit ones that you can’t rewrite.”

“An old Oculon? Y’know, I’ve got eyeboxes that don’t burn DDs to run, you can just give ‘em Thauma to make ‘em go.”

“This one is fine,” she refused, slotting in the memslate. The Prospector’s Eyes would’ve worked just as well, this was a matter of simple convenience.

As far as she was concerned, the Dead Prospector was the first person she had encountered in this world, and she felt indebted for what she had “given” her.

[TWIN SERPENT VOIDKEY]

[Tags:]

Second-order (Borderline)

Voidkey

Antique

[Details:]

Thaumic Throughput +E3

Entropy Tolerance +D1

Entropy Dissipation +F2

Barrier Catalyst (Hardened, Stabilized, Extended +15°)

Barrier Hardening +E3

Barrier Formation Rate +E1

Barrier Upkeep Reduction +F3

Ward Catalyst (Hardened)

Ward Hardening +D1

Grants Boon: “Venom-eating Serpent”

Grants Boon: “Venom-spewing Serpent”

[VENOM-EATING SERPENT]

[Tags:]

External Source (Voidkey)

Entropy Purge Enhancement

[Details:]

The holder’s Entropy Purges dissipate Entropy approximately 1/3 faster. Applies to Meltdowns at halved effectiveness.

[VENOM-SPEWING SERPENT]

[Tags:]

External Source (Voidkey)

Barrier Enhancement

Toggleable

[Details:]

When active: The holder’s Barriers lash out in response to impacts, automatically directing “Venomous Retaliation” towards the source, if it can be perceived. By default, this is a simple projectile based on the nature of the holder’s Barriers, but the nature of Venomous Retaliation can be adjusted based on the holder’s Control attribute.

The magnitude of Venomous Retaliation is proportional to the triggering impact, and further scales with the holder’s Thaumic Throughput and Archetype Level. Retaliatory strikes are “poisoned”, or imbued with 1/20 of the holder’s current Entropy, which is transferred to the target on impact regardless of Wards or Barriers. The holder’s allies are automatically excluded from triggering this Boon, but this can be toggled off.

Current Venomous Retaliation adjustments: None

“Borderline? As in borderline Third-order, right?”

“There exists a narrow band where the orders cross over. You’ll find it difficult finding anything of an order higher than Third, be it a key or any other artifact; they’re either hard to find, or restricted. The Five Agencies hoard them and know better than to sell them. That is why Archonforged objects have so much value, they’re one of the few ways for many contractors to access potentially beyond-Third-order power. In the same way, most people who do anything meaningful with the System will at most push an Archetype to its maximum and never break through the evolution bottleneck.”

“Hell, most folks never get to the point where it’s relevant at all. I’ve met high-rankers who’re not even close to their Archetype’s bottleneck, and mid-rankers who’ve evolved their archetype three or four times,” Garvesh said. He didn’t seem to find Casus’ explanation strange, suggesting that this was sufficiently uncommon knowledge that it wouldn’t be strange for her to be unfamiliar.

“You’ve met high-rankers?” Krahe asked. She raised her hand, spinning the bangle around her wrist. “Didn’t you say the people who could buy this wouldn’t give you the time of day?”

The saurian’s eyes went wide and his pupils turned into horizontal lines in alarm. He huffed, and chuffed, and near enough smacked the “NO QUESTIONS ASKED” sign.

“Enough! You have what you need. Leave, I want to sleep.”

Strangely, Casus hurried to drag Krahe out of the store by the sleeve of her stolen jacket, and only once they were at the ground level again did he say anything.

“You look like you know why my question struck a nerve with him,” she poked.

Sighing, the Banisher explained: “There is a… A rumor that Garvesh was once a high-ranker himself, that he was ambushed and struck with an Outer God’s curse while trying to evolve his archetype. Now he is stuck, unable to channel more than small amounts of Thauma, or so they say. Come, this way. We’ve one more stop before we head to Slaughterhouse Nine.”