I didn't tell Lawlimi about Dokutsu because there was nothing he could do. It was better to allow him a measure of peace than to ruin it with knowledge. In many games, the health and status conditions of all party members would have been relayed to him via onscreen icons. In Mystic Seasons, you must use your sensorium to garner that kind of information. They could have exchanged messages, but that was a distracting process. He would have had to go into his menus to notice Sashimibandit had sent him an update when they came under attack. He didn't.

The Mechano Factory contained a multitude of prostheses for Lawlimi to select from. The cutthroat trio left after they saw he and his ward weren't in any immediate danger, and Lawlimi preferred not having them lurking around. Shippo helped assemble their candidates and display them on a workbench.

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Assembly Claw

Heroic Level 2

Availability : Unusual

Condition : Good

Strength : 6

A simple, three-fingered appendage suited for heavy construction. Exceptionally strong and durable, but useless for intricate work. Large size.

Gunner Clamp

Mortal Level 5

Availability : Ordinary

Condition : Poor

Strength : 1

A low-quality clamp with limited utility, usually equipped to mechanos whose sole purpose is to clasp a light or medium weapon indefinitely.

Iron Hand

Mortal Level 6

Availability : Ordinary

Condition : Good

Strength : 2

The standard replacement for a human hand provides no special abilities or protections. Mild penalty to dexterity-based skill checks.

Steel Hand

Heroic Level 1

Availability : Extraordinary

Condition : Excellent

Strength : 4

The steel hand is an improvement on the basic model, stronger, more durable, and less clunky. It functions as well as a normal human hand.

Utility Attachment

Heroic Level 1

Availability : Extraordinary

Condition : Poor

Strength : 1

A tool belt for your wrist, the Utility Attachment comes ready to cut, screw, and measure as the need arises, or function as a three-fingered hand when the need doesn't arise. Two additional tool slots are available for installation.

>>

Lawlimi perused his options carefully and produced the disjointed segments that had been the X-Cannon, setting them above the other mechano artifacts.

"Oooooh," Shippo said. "Viridium."

"I need you to use one or more of these hands to put that cannon at the end of my arm."

Shippo jumped like someone had snuck up on him. "But the materials. The power differential. It'll blow."

"Not if you do it right, and not if I don't charge the weapon to its full capacity. I think."

The fox boy was fascinated by the rare material, smelling, then tasting all the pieces to be sure they were consistent. "How did you build it? You don't have artificing."

"I had instructions, I told you."

"Shouldn't matter. Shouldn't have worked. Not a celestial weapon. Not with no skill."

"Well, the game has been screwing up for me since I logged in. What's important is that it did work, and if you need help developing a blueprint, I have a friend who can do it."

"Okay. Whatever you say. I'll try it for you. But it won't work."

That was my cue. "Salutations, young master Shippo, my name is Hollen, and I ..."

He dove under the table. "I'm sorry! Apologies, ancestor. For bedroom activities."

"I'm not your ancestor," I said. "I'm Hollen, Lawlimi's... familiar. And I know all the recipes in the book and then some. If you can be my hands, we can salvage the parts we need from these prosthetics to give us an attachment for the viridium."

Shippo crawled slowly back into the open. "Not ancestors? Know everything? Tell about ornithopter dynamo."

I talked for three minutes until the fox boy laughed and clapped his hands. "Okay! Maybe this will work. We got tools?"

00000000

It was good that they were having fun. Silva wasn't. When the rage took her, it increased her attack power at the cost of evasion, and her ability to take actions other than attacks. Breaking a rage before the battlefield had been scoured of targets required a difficult Ego save, and her Ego was suboptimal, even for a tank. She was going to stand and deliver.

Though Dokutsu had suffered serious damage, she had recovered her composure enough to slip around Silva's next charge. Her fronds sought purchase, mostly stymied by fur and leather, but one pricked the red woman's arm.

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(Touché! — Frond deals 401 Piercing Damage and delivers venom)

(Resist Poison — Success)

>>

The power sword swung in a wide arc, and Dokutsu drifted back. Some of her fronds planted themselves to take her weight, so her feet barely had to brush the ground. A supporting strand was severed, but this did no damage, just as cutting actual hair would have done none, though, unlike hair, her tendrils regenerated in seconds.

Silva roared and her spirit flared in the cabochon as she pressed forward in a blistering series of attacks, the last of which punctured Dokutsu's thigh.

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(Quotidian Blow! — Power Sword deals 7,595 Piercing/Heat Damage)

(Touché! — Frond deals 312 Piercing Damage, delivers venom)

(Touché! — Frond deals 360 Piercing Damage, delivers venom)

(Touché! — Frond deals 270 Piercing Damage, delivers venom)

(Resist Poison — Success)

(Resist Poison — Success)

(Resist Poison — Failure)

>>

Silva's left hand twitched, fingers splaying, then stiffened. The power sword wavered, she couldn't wield it effectively with one hand, but her rage allowed for no moderation in tactics. She pumped mana into her affinities as well as the blade, boosting her strength and her speed at great expense to her fatigued Spirit. She twisted her whole body to drag the power sword up in a sharply curving arc that would have taken Dokutsu between her thighs. Instead, an outgrowth ruptured out of the worm woman's wound, smashing into Silva and throwing her back before the titan steel could connect.

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(Sudden Strike! — Outgrowth deals 3,448 Bludgeoning Damage)

(Knockback Successful)

>>

Silva went head over heels across the intersection, the power sword flying out of her grip and clattering against a wall.

Dokutsu smirked. She floated forward, preparing to follow up her attack, but an arrow lodged in her shoulder and cracked a vial of alchemist's fire.

>>

(Loaded Arrow deals 309 Piercing Damage)

(Alchemist Fire deals 613 Fire Damage)

(Resist Burn — Failure).

>>

Alchemist fire is famous for its reaction to water, and Dokutsu's aqueous anatomy provided the perfect fuel. She tried to snuff the green flame with her hands, batting and patting, and lost her momentum. Sashimibandit had waited for his opportunity to make the shot from the mezzanine. Alchemist's fire was the sort of single-use item that went in every experienced adventurer's kit. It wasn't a tool for most situations, but when the moment came, it could change the course of a battle. If only he had had more than one.

Damwise had been singing the entire time, and he didn't stop singing when he raced to where the power sword had fallen, grabbed it by its blade, and delivered it hilt first to Silva as she rolled to her feet. She took it in one hand, bared her teeth, and resisted the urge to drive it through Damwise, forcing herself to look away from him and to their real enemy. Dragging that beautiful Damascus pattern over the floor behind her, she ran and prepared to put all her inertia into one massive swing. She ducked a frond, sidestepped another, and allowed herself to take a prong in the stomach to make sure she had room for her attack.

>>

(Touché! Frond deals 407 Piercing Damage, delivers toxin)

(Resist Poison — Failure)

>>

Her abdomen spasmed, and she threw up a little in her mouth. She didn't have enough mana to use her Heroic attacks, but she was still sustaining herself with spirit, betting it all on one decisive hit. Dokutsu still had half her mind on her burning shoulder when Silva torqued the giant sword around so hard that she popped her shoulder out of its socket. The radiant edge of the power sword took Dokutsu just under her rib cage and seared its way in, not stopping until it lodged in her spine.

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(Hail Mary! — Critical Hit! — Power Sword deals 26,670 Slashing/Heat Damage)

>>

Dokutsu's mouth hung open, her arms reached, hung useless, and the chemical fire gnawed at her unnoticed. Her fronds, however, acted instinctively when her consciousness stuttered. Silva had brought herself within a curtain of barbs, and she couldn't run away. Her sword was stuck, and her rage wouldn't allow a retreat. The fronds descended on her in a deadly staccato. Some dulled themselves against her armor, others struck true.

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(Touché! Frond deals 278 Piercing Damage, delivers toxin)

(Touché! Frond deals 333 Piercing Damage, delivers toxin)

(Vital Strike! Frond deals 617 Piercing Damage, delivers toxin)

(Touché! Frond deals 318 Piercing Damage, delivers toxin)

(Resist Poison — Success)

(Resist Poison — Failure)

(Resist Poison — Failure)

(Resist Poison — Failure)

>>

The neurotoxin became more difficult to resist with each successive dose. Silva was pricked in her limp arm twice more, then in the leg, and once in the neck. Her hand left the hilt of her sword, and she went down slowly, jerkily, her breathing shallow.

Damwise had already switched to Resilience, the song that helped others resist poison, but it wasn't enough. The gallery was still raining projectiles, but most of them could do no harm except by pure luck. Single-digit damage was tickling the worm's body, as was the alchemical fire, but as Damwise watched, her shoulder expanded like a tremendous boil. The fire ate through the membranes of her skin, and the pressure released, splattering the combusting chemicals along with the semi-liquids of her internals across the floor. The sword was a problem, though it was no longer superheated, her membranes were sealing it inside of her.

>>

(Dokutsu (11,992/99,999))

>>

Damwise padded forward, hoping to pull Silva back while Dokutsu was distracted by her own pains, but the fronds hung around her protectively and twitched in his direction when he approached. He had a sling of his own, along with a few exploding pebbles. His face showed the order of his thoughts clearly, the idea of drawing the monster away with a bit of fire, knowing it would make him the next target.

"If I only had a heart," he said sadly. Damwise squeezed under the nearest barricade and out into the tunnels, careful to avoid the traps. Silva struggled to overcome the toxins rushing through her veins, but she could barely manage to keep from choking on her own vomit and saliva. Her airways were constricted, her breath came in a wheeze, and Dokutsu wasn't bothering to finish her because she was no longer a threat.

The bitch.

>>

(Fatigue 3 — 30% penalty to mana regeneration. 25% penalty to total spirit. 20% reduction to movement speed)

>>

Silva's good arm quivered as she forced it to rise a few inches. The sword was there, within reach, and there was still mana in the cabochon ready to be called upon. Power swam within the gem, mocking her. Teeth clenched, propelled by the rage that warred with poison in her heart, she pushed her fist closer to her goal. Dokutsu was distracted, almost dead, it was possible she could reach the hilt.

Dokutsu seized Silva's wrist with a force that belied her attenuated frame. The deep purple globes of her eyes regarded the furious woman with curiosity. Then she expelled mucous from her diaphragm, covering Silva with a few wet coughs. Her fronds wove the mucous like thread, creating a cocoon.

By this juncture, many of the ratfolk had decided the battle was over. Most of them were out of ammunition, and they wanted to flee. Unfortunately, to do this they had to climb down into the intersection, and at least a quarter of them could not do so without coming within striking distance of the fronds. The first wave, including Sashimibandit, escaped while Dokutsu was busy turning Silva into a gooey burrito. The rest, encouraged by the success of those that went before, had the benefit of her full attention. She ate dozens of them while slowly regaining her health, the sword that protruded from her belly seemingly forgotten.

00000000

Shippo and I were an excellent team, much better than Lawlimi. This wasn't a mark against my friend, he just didn't have any skills. It was refreshing to have a pair of hands that had done the work before. The tools and materials were not ideal, but they were varied enough to give us some room to play. Shippo was absolutely correct to worry that you couldn't graft a viridium gun onto an iron base, the base couldn't survive the vibrations and the energy dynamics the X-Cannon entailed. The iron hand had to be discarded entirely. Steel wasn't perfect, but as a temporary fitting, it could suffice. The Assembly Clamp was the highest-level part, but the base materials weren't any rarer and it was the wrong size. We removed all the utilities from the Utility Attachment, including the fingers, and placed the viridium bar parallel to its knuckles instead. The capacitor arcs latched above and below, along with two of Lawlimi's cabochons. His wrist would function as a swivel for the gun, and the attachment would give a buffer to his forearm in case it exploded again. More importantly, a mechano part was powered by the Spirit of its bearer, so Lawlimi would be able to charge the gun directly when he was powerful enough to do so.

When we were done, it was clearly a celestial weapon clamped on and plugged into heroic parts, but Shippo got an achievement for completing a project above his sphere anyway.

"Can't attach it," Shippo said sadly. "No surgery."

Lawlimi had scraped and cleaned his stump, a painful but necessary process. Damwise's medicine skill and poultices had closed off the arterial flow and returned his Body to full, but dismemberment, along with Vital Strikes and a few other kinds of attacks, didn't completely repair along with your life total. He was never going to grow a new hand, not without the aid of celestial magic or alchemy, and his stump hadn't scarred over yet. It was all scabs and proto skin. Looking at it made him a little sick, and his sensorium was giving him phantom pangs.

"Good job, buddy." Lawlimi picked up our mechano monstrosity and held it against his side. "And don't worry about the surgery. You've done more than I could have asked for."

Shippo beamed at the praise, though he was still confused as Lawlimi went to the last crystal vat in the row where the mechanos had been stored. It was the only remaining unit that hadn't been damaged in the struggle or deliberately sabotaged by Lawlimi himself. It was an awkward height, so he kicked over a stool and prepared to get in. The front facing should not have accepted him without technical adjustments that even I didn't know how to make, but he was holding a mechano part, and he pressed that against the crystal first.

Shippo nervously shuffled his feet as the forward facet of the unit changed from solid to gel and Lawlimi sank gradually into the vat. He took a deep breath, not that it would mean anything, before he was totally absorbed.

It wasn't the worst idea anyone had ever had, but it was suspect. The crystal compound within the unit was actually a host of miniature constructs, programs suspended in an emulsion, so small no mortal eye could have identified them. They reacted instantly to the presence of the mechano part along with damaged human tissues and went to work. It didn't matter if Lawlimi didn't belong in their operating theater, he was there, and they had a job to do. The constructs solidified the gel into surgical implements, rolling Lawlimi around and maneuvering the prosthetic to his wrist. They made adjustments and began flensing unnecessary biological material from his stump before they made any connections.

The pain would have been incredible.

Lawlimi had been holding his breath, now he was screaming soundlessly.

>>

(Lawlimi is DROWNING)

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