Steel's undead hunting amps · 10:16pm May 12th, 2024
Originally, I had planned to include a large scale battle at Rose’s Blossom during the Festival Arc, culminating with Steel and Raven battling Nightcrawler as he’s about to kill Roseluck and Sunset. Ultimately, I decided that I wanted to go a different route, since it didn’t feel like it would mesh well with the tone of the story. However, when I was drafting and outlining the chapters, I considered that Steel’s modus operandi would probably mean he’d be prepared to face the Endless Decay with a specialized set of amps, as would Raven (I didn’t design Raven’s amps, as the main focus of the battle chapter would be on Steel’s battle with Nightcrawler).
So, since I needed a break from the current chapter, and wanted to give everyone something to tide them over, here they are. Like the other amps posted, these are canon to Splintered Sky even if they haven’t appeared in story.
Bone Crusher
Linked user: Steel Sentry
Object: steel reinforced quarterstaff
Description: When facing the Endless Decay’s hordes, Steel quickly realized that slashing and piercing weapons were generally ineffective against the undead. Knowing that his preferred melee weapon, Sun’s Fang, was not going to do the job, he began creating one that would. Though primarily meant to destroy undead, Bone Crusher is frighteningly effective against the living as well.
Passive enchantments:
- Vitrification - while in Steel’s hands, materials struck by Bone Crusher have their physical properties temporarily altered to be identical to that of glass moments before contact with its surface.
- Alacrity - Bone Crusher doubles Steel's speed, agility and reflexes.
Spells:
- Acid cage (fuel: excitement) - objects struck by Bone Crusher are coated with a layer of powerful, viscous acidic gel, hindering movement as it attacks the target.
- Tremor (fuel: joy) - generates a localized shockwave, throwing anyone standing on it other than Steel to the ground. Steel can choose whether the shockwave will be omnidirectional or in a specific direction.
- Blast strike (fuel: love) - Striking with Bone Crusher creates a powerful concussive blast at the point of impact. The blast is strong enough to send objects up to 200 kg flying through the air.
Dreadbane
Linked User: Steel Sentry
Object: Cylinder loading grenade launcher
Description: When Steel eventually perfected the creation of osteophage gas, he immediately set out to develop an amp to maximize the gas’s potential use against the Endless Decay. Dreadbane is the result of said research.
Passive enchantments:
- Snap reload - reloading Dreadbane is augmented as the cylinder will automatically snap open and discharge spent casings when commanded to by Steel, and automatically orient itself so that the bullets are lined up with the chambers.
- Soft launch - The kick from firing Dreadbane is greatly reduced without compromising the velocity imparted on the grenades, making controlling and aiming the weapon easier.
Spells:
- Wind trap (fuel: competitiveness) - a 5 meter diameter sphere of 40 km/hr, inward swirling air springs into being around the grenade’s point of detonation.
- Duplicate (fuel: creativity) - generates 2 conjured duplicates of the projectile fired from Dreadbane. Duplicates vanish 30 seconds after detonation.
- Persistent bomb (fuel: determination) - grenades fired from Dreadbane adhere to surfaces they strike before detonating or releasing their payload.
Vitalis
Linked user: Steel Sentry
Object: Tactical armor
Description: A variant on his Ironsides armor speficically tailored to counter undead enemies, Steel created Vitalis to further turn the tides against Nightcrawler and his vile kind when they meet in battle.
Passive enchantments:
- Night-eyes - Steel gains perfect night-vision, allowing him to see in anything but total darkness as though it is a bright, clear day.
- Restoration - Ironsides will repair itself when damaged, preventing breaches in the armor from becoming points of vulnerability. The armor also staunches wounds and applies moderate healing magic to any injury Steel suffers while wearing it.
Spells:
- Corrosive counter (fuel: caution) - Objects striking Steel are coated in a powerful oxidizer, corroding them rapidly.
- Vital infusion (fuel: compassion) - Cleanses Steel of fatigue.
- Colaurata’s speed (fuel: courage) - Steel temporarily triples Steel’s speed and agility.
- Iron Sentinel (fuel: determination) - Temporarily increases Ironsides' resistance to damage.
Interesting the "fuel" requirement. I assume that is what the user has to push through to the amp to get the desired results like an activation spell.
How do you kill that which has no life? The answer is often "The same way you kill anything else, but hitting it even harder." Often in a way that disrupts the materials involved, whether the preserved organs or the horrific force animating them.
Beating something back into the grave is relatively straightforward with the right stick. A stick that turns that thing into glass first is an excellent choice, especially when paired with a grenade launcher.
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Pretty much. The abridged version is that amps are "shortcuts" for spell-dancing. Spell-dances are fueled with a specific emotion per spell, so they still need to be fueled with the required amount of refined flame fed on the right emotion. The caster just doesn't have to go through the dances needed, allowing for near instantaneous casting. I go into more detail on amps here and here if you're interested.
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Steel's nothing if not innovative when it comes to making things stop moving. Vitrification and disruption (see Sun's Fang and the prominence-knight's sun halberds) are a pair of enchantments that he developed to maximize the potential of melee weaponry. Want to make a bludgeon more effective at beating armor and smashing undead? Shatter them like they're glass. Want to make a cutting/piercing weapon more effective? Cause the materials near it to become the consistency of gelatin. Of course, he hasn't exactly shared how to do the enchantment with anyone other than the sun-touched, because he really doesn't want them getting out into the wild.
As for Dreadbane, while it does work well with regular grenades, he made the thing to help take advantage of osteophage gas (I've name dropped it a few times in the recent chapters). Osteophage gas, as the name implies, is a gas that specifically targets and eats bone. The first few iterations of the formula didn't discriminate, and would attack any bone around. That included the living bones of anyone in the gas cloud. The most recent version Steel developed has fixed that particular flaw, and only attacks dead bone, meaning that Dead Breakers can deploy osteophage into a crowd of civilians being attacked by dreads, and aside from a little throat irritation, the civies will come out completely fine, while the dreads are reduced to ash.