A Drow's Dilemma Ep. 49: Geneforge

"I will not do anything to her personality if you do not wish me to: I will simply insure that she has a nice balance between contentment and ambition, and that is all. Of course, that is not so much a matter of personality as it is of an unusually good digestion (contentment) and an active mind (ambition), and she was going to have those anyway." He looked over everything again. "Actually... wow. I did not know that this could do this... Heh. If you are willing to temporarily sacrifice a large bit of your own magical power, I can transfer it to our daughter, giving her even greater potential for potent natural sorcery than she already has. Also..." his eyes went wide. "I... do not know quite how to say this, but I can use the Soul Smithing feature of the Gene-Forge to double her, causing you to bear twins instead of a single birth.

He pursed his lips. "The twins would have a sort of natural telepathy, allowing them to be potentially powerful psychics. I will leave that up to you, since, frankly, I am not sure that I am completely comfortable with some of the implications of Soul Smithing. There are some odd ethical conundrums here..." He kept looking over the panel. "Huh. Apparently, I can adjust her aging speed, so that she matures as fast as a human, or even faster. While the controls assure mere that there are 'no long-term negative side effects' I would be leery about doing that. There is also some feature about slowed aging in exchange for drastically increased lifespan, but she is already effectively immortal, so that seems useless for us."

He had not yet answered either Ashyr's question about future manipulation, but he was getting to it. "I will, of course, take a full record of our daughter's genetic profile, accessible only to the girl herself and her parents. Of course, at this point I am probably the only non-ghost in the world with the ability to read it, unless you count R.I.S.A., so the security is a moot point. More importantly, I will use the device to store base knowledge to allow lesser fetal manipulation in future. This will allow me to keep your daughters dark skinned and remove all harmful genetic quirks. I cannot do more than that without access to the forge. Then again, I did not do all that much more than that this time anyway. But before I do: is there anything else I should use this for?"

Ashyr's eyes had begun to glaze over in the face of Caleldir's explanation of what the 'Gene Forge' was capable of. A lot of it sounded intimidating, and not all that appealing to her ranger's tendency towards letting nature take its course. In the end, she wasn't even sure if he answered her question. Perhaps she should have paid a bit more attention. But it wasn't likely that they were ever going to come here again.

The younger drow was better capable of paying attention. Life magic had never been Selene's passion; if she couldn't blow things up or make things feel pain, then she didn't bother to practice. It was academically interesting, and had of course been a part of some of her lessons. It appeared at several times that she was going to respond to something Caleldir said or asked, but he seemed far too excited about the thing to stop talking. This level of manipulation was quite fascinating... but it felt too much like making an experiment out of her only living daughter. Caleldir made all this sound... unpredictable. Such a thing may be suitable to toy with in lesser races until Selene was absolutely sure how it would affect her own progeny. "Do not make her a twin. Do not transfer my magic into her. Do not mess with her development." Selene said firmly. "And one last thing; how far along is she? With my last I didn't get sick for another couple weeks from this time. Even then, she was fairly premature; I only carried her for a year but she seemed fully developed. My magic screwed things up, I think."

"These particular features can only be done in the first half of the first trimester, apparently, which means that today is the absolute last day that it can be done. So... your pregnancy is progressing along unusually fast. The Forge can either insure that that does not happen, allowing for a normal pregnancy, or even speed it up if you want to get it over with quickly. Either way, I already removed your potential for morning sickness and most other negative aspects of the pregnancy. This one should be easier than the last."

"Wait, you said I'm almost over halfway done with the first trimester? That would give me, what, another nine, maybe ten months at this rate? Goddess..." She brushed hair out of her face and swallowed. That was almost half the time it was supposed to take. Apparently that's what she got for adventuring while pregnant. "Whatever. Leave it like that. We're just going to have to be done eradicating the males back home in less than four months if I'm to be of any help. At least you took care of most of the side-effects."

There was a whirring noise, and Caleldir plucked a small bronze cube from the control panel. "There, that should be everything." He stated.

"We done here? I don't want to be around when whoever made that abomination wakes up." Ashyr said. She couldn't keep all of her impatience out of her voice.

Caleldir sobered up a bit. "Yes, we are done here." The metal disks floated away from Selene's stomach and returned to their place in the Gene Forge. The display powered down, though the rest of it remained humming with energy. Casting a regretful look at the Gene Forge, Caleldir turned away. "A very fine bit of artifice." He said sadly. "Even though a lot of what it does is rather... creepy, I will still miss it."

The sun was now low enough in the sky that the entire Forge area was bathed in orange light. "We do not have much time." Caleldir agreed with Ashyr. "I now have enough data to manipulate future children in similar ways. Let us get going."

"A beautiful thing, that Gene Forge is." Althaia broke her long silence. "But I am not sure that this sort of power is meant for mortals. Or immortals, for that matter."

A wry grin appeared on Caleldir's face. "You do not know the half of it. You could create a god using that thing. In fact, we already did. Sadly, Heaven and Hell struck before She was complete, and now..." He sighed. "Well, I would rather not run into that Goddess again."

Instead of heading for the door, Caleldir walked over to one of the huge windows that took up most of the tower. "So... should we just fly away, or ascend one level and try to activate the teleporter to take us all the way to Duskhaven, if you so desire?"

"We can't go back to Duskhaven yet." Ashyr said regretfully. "I've got my agreement with the orcs. We're going to need their help." Her expression grew menacing by the time she spoke her next works. "That, and Lord Faust and his lackeys haven't paid for what they did to Celeste yet." Her voice was barely more than a growl. Thoughts of the beautiful blonde had been plaguing her mind almost as soon as she got to the Monastery. "I think we have enough power finally to take him down. Hell, we fought that giant machine and came out okay. What's a little demon spawn after that?"

"Wouldn't be safe to teleport back home anyway. Better to walk in and not announce our presence to everyone with the tiniest bit of magical sense." Selene agreed with as much regret as her cousin. It would be nice to be home. Not that it was safe or even resembled the home they were raised in. The mage slid off the table and gave the terrifyingly beautiful machine one last contemplative glance. Then she joined Caleldir by the window. Her robe melted back into its normal form; no need to distract the party with excessive nudity.

"We could probably take on Lord Faust and his minions now. We are quite a bit tougher now than we were when he had us in his clutches. But what would that accomplish? Once we break it, are we going to buy it? Or, to put it another way, if we take out the government, who is going to govern? Us?" He smiled. "I would love to do that. Which is why we should secure Duskhaven first. Then we can use that as a power-base to attack Port Afron, and conquer it. Screw just running in and killing some tiefling: to really exact vengeance, we need to rule the place."

"You have issues." Althaia said dryly. "Anyway, in your government, I call chief of police."

"I am not comfortable with giving a nymphomaniac like you that kind of power..." Caleldir said uneasily. The nymph flashed him a grin.

Ashyr frowned and rubbed at the back of her neck. "I... suppose it can wait." She let out a slightly frustrated sigh. The thing was that she didn't want to wait. She was almost as adamant about making Faust pay as she had been when she first witnessed the death of her first human friend. But it was the choice between a lord who ruled over a people she couldn't care less about, or going to take back her homelands from traitors who murdered half her family. The choice was clear. "But we still do need to go to the orcs. I guess our destination can be Dria's town. I know how to get to their base from there."

"I could teleport us anywhere, including Dria's town, to be honest." Caleldir explained. "Well, almost anywhere. But that option would be rather difficult, to be honest, since the portal room is right next to Birchborn's quarters."

Both drow admitted to not being in enough of a hurry to risk waking Birchborn.

"Dria's town, then, and not via teleportation." Caleldir said cheerfully. "If we make our way back to the Spider-Tank, I think that I can get R.I.S.A. to take over it, and therefore give us a quick way to get there. Much quicker than walking, at least, and far less likely that I will get myself kidnapped by amorous dryads. Or nymphs." He shuddered.

Althaia's pointed ears twitched. "I can kidnap and ravish you again, if you want. I know that you are majorly into that sort of thing. Right, Selene?"

"Fantastic." Caleldir said with utter sarcasm dripping from his voice.

Selene's eyes glinted with amusement. It was probably out of self-defense, considering all the times it had happened to him in the past month. If he didn't at least like it a little bit, he likely wouldn't have been able to cope as well with it as he already had. She'd seen the same coping mechanism many times over where she grew up. Selene was just sort of proud that she had been the one to start it all off. Both drow shared a look of amusement.

"So how is this going to work? Can you carry us with you and fly now, Cal?" Ashyr asked. The prospect of flying excited her. The ranger had always marveled at some creatures' ability to fly, and wished she could do so herself ever since she saw the vastness of the sky. Her white teeth flashed in a wide grin, a brilliant contrast to her charcoal face.

"I can cast a communal feather fall. I suppose if we get enough forward momentum we can glide a good distance away from this place." Selene offered. The younger drow looked more wary than the older. She was confident that this was possible, but was not particularly looking forward to it.

"Yes, I was thinking Feather Fall on you guys, then I would just push you away from the monastery."

"Or," Althaia said. "You can ride my celestial pegasus."

"Wait, you have a pegasus?" Selene responded.

The nymph closed her eyes, and began chanting in the heavenly tongue. A whinny could be heard in the distance, and then a whoosh as a winged white horse landed on the tower. "See?" Althaia said cheerfully.

Both drow took a couple steps back. Selene looked annoyed, while Ashyr looked fascinated. "Fuck, I wish I was a Paladin now." The ranger declared. "I want an awesome flying horse." Ashyr huffed a sigh. She knew very well that being a paladin would not work out for her. At least her companion had one, which was almost as good as owning one herself if Althaia let her ride it. The older drow rubbed her hands together in excitement.

"Will it let me ride it?" Selene asked. She was, after all, very slightly more evil than neutral still.

Althaia smiled brightly at Selene, her eyes flashing celestial blue. "Err... probably not. Ashyr can ride with me, but..." she looked a little guilty. "You would not find the ride very comfortable. My companion here would allow you to ride behind me, but she is a celestial mare, and therefore emits an aura painful to those of a southerly alignment, if you catch my meaning."

"I am sure that we do." Caleldir said dryly. "I can carry you, Selene. It will reduce the amount of time I have this power increase, but not by much."

It was then that Ashyr, and only Ashyr, noticed that time around them suddenly slowed to a crawl, and then stopped. The other three seemed to notice a potent burst of magic, but by the time that they processed what was going on, they had frozen in position. Ashyr felt her movement halted, but not her consciousness, unlike the others. A small figure like that of a child floated out into the Gene-Forge area. Robed in dark, rotting green, her eyes glowed acidically from underneath her concealing hood. 'i have you now, trespassers'. The small woman whispered.

Ashyr couldn't say she was surprised. Disappointed, a little distressed, but not surprised. They had stood upon this roof talking about transportation for far too long. They should have just flung themselves off the root and trusted fate to see them to safety. But they did not do that thing. Instead, they waited just long enough for the diminutive person who was presumably Birchborn to capture them.

"Don't mind us. We were on the way out." Ashyr said in the futile hope that the little woman would let the interlopers leave. She struggled against whatever it was holding her down. Perhaps if she could hit the female she'd be able to disrupt her. One thought ran through her mind: there had to be something she could do!

The little woman turned towards Ashyr with surprise, or so one could discern from her body language. Her face was still in shadow. 'how is your mind unaffected by the time stop?' She whispered. 'oh. a runic marking. no matter. you are not strong enough. i will simply have to destroy you the ordinary way.' Indeed, the rune that Magolben Hissael had given the drow began to glow brightly. Ashyr could fight against the time-stop, but only barely; her moves were like swimming through crystallizing honey. The diminutive mage, eyes glowing malevolently, began to cast what was obviously a powerful evocation spell.

--

The man laughed. "You had a good run there. You promoted your pawns, rescued your king, and even snatched away the knight just when I thought my queen had him. But, fortune has is not with you any longer. The promoted pawn may be lucky, but not enough."

The woman smiled. "Your confidence is foolish. Fortune is something we make, not something we are bound to. Or, more accurately, fortune is something I make!" She waved her hand over the table, and fate rearranged itself.

The man screamed in frustration. "I win." The woman said simply.

--

The rune on Ashyr glowed far brighter than before, shattering the time-stop completely. Birchborn was struck down in a screech by the drow's sudden attack, and vanished into a burst of rotted leaves. Caleldir, grabbing Selene, leapt from the tower. Selene let out a sort of undignified squeak when she felt herself get snatched up by her child's sire and flung out the window. The mage expected just a little more... ceremony before being picked up. She clamped her hand over her mouth and looked, for a brief moment, mortified by the sound she'd made. Selene sincerely hoped that the noise got swallowed up in the rush of wind that they should now be surrounded by. Caleldir had noticed Selene's undignified squeak, but decided that it was probably better if he pretended not to. Carrying Selene in the classic 'princess' pose - cradled in front of him - he sped off away from the tower.

They were followed by Althaia, with Ashyr behind the nymph on the pegasus.

"Remind me to thank Caleldir's father for stabbing me!" Ashyr told the Paladin with a sort of bright, childish laughter with the thrill that jumping out of an impossibly high tower gave her. For once, her tone held no mischief or naughtiness, though the words themselves could easily be taken the wrong way.

Althaia gave Ashyr a look of fake shock, then a giggle. It was clear that she found the drow's double entendre funny. "Sadly, I think that stabbing with a metal sword is the only type that that man is ever likely to do." She groused. "It is clear which side of the family Caleldir got his prudishness from." Despite her pegasus being indisputably faster than Caleldir's levitation, the nymph stayed behind him, following him back to town.

"He contributed to Caleldir, didn't he? But I have a feeling he'd only be interested in Caleldir's mother. And I do not want to annoy him." Other than those words, Ashyr didn't seem interested in conversing further. Flying as they were was far too wonderful and overwhelming. There was the added relief of finally being away from that horrid monastery. Ashyr would not mind never visiting the place again despite all the wealth still locked within.

They were now easily a mile above the ground, with a peerless view of the mountain sunset. Once a few seconds had passed, Caleldir broke the silence. "I am sorry for grabbing you so quick there." He said. "Ashyr may have used some funky... something to break us all out of Birchborn's time-stop, but the archmage will not long be stopped by such things. I think she teleported away in shock just as Ashyr was about to slash her, but she would be back. We were out of time." He started gently sinking towards the ground. "And I am running pretty low on time too. I think I can make the town before I run out of levitation, but just in case I think it best if I hover low. Or very high, and please have a feather fall ready."

"I can cast feather fall almost instantly." Selene responded. She didn't reply to anything else he said; she had known the importance of acting quickly after she got over the initial surprise. As for the noise she made, she was going to pretend it never happened. The pregnant drow spent the rest of the time in silent contemplation of their surroundings.

Caleldir's worries were for naught, although they were almost justified. He landed next to the group's parked Spider-Tank just as his magic ran out. "Well, that was a fun couple of days." He said cheerfully. He then collapsed into unconsciousness.