Triple Strength

16. Skills: Wiremu

The meeting with Longstrider was set for late in the evening at the same place as before. However, I had plans. I gulped down the evening meal and left as soon as it was dark. I had been watching the interview sparring very carefully this afternoon, but I was using the trick that Longstrider had walked me through and not just watched using Physical Perception. When I focussed watching through Mental Perception I got a lot more understanding of what Skills they were using. It was like empowering Identify. When I focussed using Spiritual Perception I could see when they were using a primarily Spiritual skill and what it might do. Identify levelled and I got a new Skill called Sense Spiritual. This opened my eyes to some of the wards around the Training Area. I couldn’t determine what they would do but I could sense they were there. It was a start. This technique might have been common knowledge around here, but it was an eye opener to me.

I left early because I knew where there was a Spiritual Trap I could study. Hanging off the outside wall of the upper story of a warehouse for an extended period would not have been possible without the ability to lock my joints. Sense Spiritual showed me there was something there and examining it with my Spiritual Perception, along with knowing it was a trap, helped me work out the different parts that made up the trap. It was like most traps in that it had a camouflage section, a bait section, a trigger and then the consequences of triggering it. There was a physical part, in this case hidden in the window frame and a spiritual part. I couldn’t get to the physical without triggering the trap. The Physical part of the trap held the spiritual in place and in the right shape.

The camouflage section was by far the hardest to pierce through and figure out. It was camouflaged against Spiritual Perception as well as Physical Perception. It took me the best part of an hour to puzzle through but once I had done it the rest of the trap was an open book. Once I had figured out the camouflage part I got the skill Detect Spiritual Trap 1.

But why stop there? How would I get past the trap without triggering it? The key there was the linking of the different parts of the trap. Either I could avoid triggering it, or disrupt where the trigger linked to the jaws or consequence of the trap. I couldn’t not trigger it if I wanted to go through the window. So I had to stop the consequences, which in this case was an alarm, some sort of Spiritual flare. There was more to that flare, because I know nobody in the building saw it except Longstrider. I could work that out later, for now the object was to get in without triggering the flare. Granite Bones Levelled. Time was getting on.

It wasn’t as easy as breaking the link between the trigger and the flare as that is what the trigger did to set off the flare. I would have to figure out how to either keep the link intact, or create a second link that will keep the connection active. My experience with Physical traps was giving me a good head start here, now I just have to figure out how to do the same thing spiritually. In the end I used my spiritual Strength to harden the link and, hoping it was enough, triggered the trap by passing through the window. It was, and I earned the Disarm Spiritual Trap Skill. Hunters knew where their traps were and hence were not concerned about finding or disarming traps. I would have to do this with Physical Traps as well. I figured I would have a huge advantage learning to find and disarm physical traps from my Trapping Skill and experience. I was realising how incredibly lucky I was there were no Spiritual Traps at the quarry. New lesson, don’t underestimate anybody, even weak prisoners. I was very curious about Mental Traps as well, but that will have to wait.

The warehouse was silent and dark. I had about an hour before the meeting, so I figured I had about half and hour before someone started to arrive, probably the archers to do a sweep of the building before Longstrider arrived. I wanted to explore the area of the floor where Pip had tasted all the people. I landed lightly on the stone floor …. Stone floor. I examined the stone and granite slabs were a very common building material in the area. Probably due to a nearby quarry. Pip slithered off to explore while I examined the stone around, what I figured was the entrance to a basement or tunnel.

There were several layers of spiritual traps. I had no way to separate them out, let alone try to get through them. My newly learned Level 1 Skills had a long way to go. I really wanted to learn to set such traps. I would get there. Meanwhile, could I bypass them in some way with my granite affinity? I started with putting my ear to the ground and engaging Hearing Aid to see if anyone might be down there. Nothing. What about using my Spiritual Perception through my affinity? I started to get a sense of the granite. The minute cracks in the carving and the different densities of whatever it was that made up the granite. I got the sense the slab was about 5cm thick. It joined to more rock around the entrance and further away from the entrance was dirt. My senses didn’t penetrate very far into the dirt. I did extend them down through the joining rock as far as they could go, which wasn’t very far. I then felt some small vibrations through the rock and suddenly realised somebody was coming up the entrance. I decided it was time to make an exit.

I went back up the mezzanine and re-strengthened the link in the trap before exiting the window. I left Pip inside. I would come back in about 15 minutes and knock on the door. It is best if no one knows I was there, or if they think someone was there it would keep them wondering. I would play up the naive country yokel with my Deceive Skill. When I paused in an alley to wait I checked my status and I did have a new Skill, Granite Sense. Granite Sense obviously used Spiritual Perception to work and this determined the detail of what I could sense. Spiritual Strength determined how far I could sense and Spiritual Agility determined how flexible I could be with the sensing, ie how effective it was in other materials. Currently dirt, no. Other similar rock, yes but harder. I would need to experiment with the Skill and as I leveled it these should become easier.