Brockton Bays Marvelous Mage

A common misconception is that precious stones, things like rubies, emeralds, and sapphires, were all super expensive gemstones, and that finding a pile of them in nature would somehow make you extremely rich. The truth was that the vast majority of precious stones that are found aren't actually gem quality. Most are cloudy, poorly shaped, filled with cracks, riddled with other flaws, or otherwise just poor quality.

These stones would never be professionally cut into actual gemstones, as they were hardly ever worth the time it took to do. Some of them were used as practice stones for trainees, but that was only a tiny portion. These lesser stones were cheap, especially compared to their rarer and better quality siblings, and jewelry stores tended to carry them to sell in bulk.

Which was good because I was going to need a lot of them. Thankfully, the "lesser" quality stones worked just fine for rituals, as what made these stones critical to rituals was less the fact that they were expensive and more of their internal structure and their inherited properties, at least in terms of how magic affected them. Sure, the ones with huge cracks or fault lines were useless to me as well, but in the grand scheme of things, the rest were perfectly fine.

Which was why I made my way to one of Brockton Bay's few remaining jewelry stores. I had already bought several double fist-sized spheres of granite. They were common enough decorations, both indoors and out, that I only needed to visit two different stores to find exactly what I was looking for. Now, I just hoped that Bayside Brilliance, the largest jewelry store in the Bay, sold loose gems like I was looking for.

I walked into the store, passing three very large and very armed security guards as I did, stepping into the well-lit space beyond. It didn't take very long for one of the staff to find me as I looked around, asking with a salesman's smile if I needed any help. The process was pretty simple, and since I was paying in cash, they didn't even need to see an ID. Instead, they checked to make sure my money was real, handed me several bags of low-quality gems, and I walked out with a smile on my face.

A large part of me had been almost sure that one of the Bay's many villains would choose that exact moment to attempt to rob the jewelry store. Luckily, I kept my cool while I was inside, unmasked and unable to run off or really defend myself. Even still, my vaguely nonsensical anxiety didn't truly pass until I was a fair distance away from the shop.

I arrived back at the forest not too long after my shopping was complete. I followed along the hiking trail for a few minutes before sneaking off and heading directly for my base. By now, I was starting to get a good solid feel for the forest I was claiming as my home, so I started gently casting spells on various bushes, clumps of grass, and small trees as I walked, lightly encouraging them to grow. I wanted the area around me to be as dense and cluttered as possible, both to block off any noise or light I might make once I had settled in properly and to deter people even more from just stumbling on my home.

The moment I got back, I set right to work. I was on a deadline, after all, with the Docks community left defenseless while I worked. I quickly set up what I had just bought, all neatly and easily grabbable since I would be using a lot of them. When that was set, I gathered my chalk, notebook, and various measurement tools in preparation. I then knelt down in the center of the large ritual platform and got to work, starting with the center focus circle and working my way out.

The order of operations for the golem core was first ritualizing the primary heart, one of the granite spheres. This was by far the most complicated ritual in the entire process. When that was done, it was time to complete the dozen or so smaller rituals for the various gemstones that would be fused to the primary heart. When all of the individual parts were complete, it was time for the final fusing process, also known as the second most complex ritual.

At this point, the golem core was complete, and all that was left to do was complete the smallest ritual of the process to prepare the golem frame. This was more or less just a magical shock to the golem materials, infusing it with energy to better allow the magic of the golem core to spread once implanted.

Ordinarily, the process of getting the materials and inserting the golem core was one of the more challenging aspects. This was because the materials needed to be pre-formed into the golem's shape, and an opening must be made to insert the core. Not only did this mean that you had to pre-carve a golem out of stone or clay or build one from metal, but it also meant there was almost always a weak point where you inserted the core.

Thankfully, with druidcraft letting me freely manipulate trees on a large scale, I could easily bypass that issue and grow the golem into shape, open up a hole for the core, and close it back up perfectly, leaving no gap in the defenses. I wasn't sure how the golems would react to a parahuman with the ability to manipulate plant life, so I made a mental note to admit that to Charles and John when I dropped the golems off.

I started the first core at around noon, and by seven PM, I had four complete bipedal golems, each casting long shadows from the lights I set up. The golems were just under seven feet tall, made up of thick corded wood and smooth, almost metallic bark. Rather than worry about things like the uncanny valley, they had no heads at all, making them seem more than a bit hunched over. Their cores were deep in their chest, encircled with heavy, dense wood, coiled up with springy growth to cushion serious blows.

Even better, all four golems were grown from a single enhanced acorn, making their wood particularly dense and tough. Each one of them was significantly stronger than me with a steel absorption, and while being made of wood made them considerably slower than I had made them of a more speed-related material, they were still fast for their size, just above my normal moving speed.

Even just standing, unnervingly still, they looked impressive and definitely intimidating. Watching them run around as I ordered them back and forth through the forest was even worse. They moved shockingly well, with no signs of the clumsy, over-the-top movements you might expect from them. Watching them spin and jump made me glad I had splurged on good materials, while watching them punch chunks out of normal trees made me glad I had made sure they wouldn't be too rough with ordinary people.

With the four golems done, I had one more thing to build, though I did intend to make more of them later. On my hunt to find the granite spheres to serve as the heart of the golem core, I eventually made my way into a garden store. Not only did it contain precisely what I was looking for, it also gave me an idea. As I was patiently waiting in line at the cashiers, I happened to spot an image advertising a hedge trimmer, where a man looked proudly over a series of artistically carved hedges, all of them cut into various shapes and animals.

It took a few seconds for the clerk to get my attention, my mind going wild as I mentally began designing the ritual required to bring my idea into reality. It was hard to keep my excitement down to a smile as I went on to finish my shopping at the jewelry store before calmly rushing back to the forest to work. While I was excited by the ideas flashing through my head, I knew I needed to get the golems done first. Then, I can go about modifying the original design for something more robust.

Thankfully, most of what I wanted to do could use the framework I had already designed for the normal golems. With some tweaks and additions, I completed a series of extra rituals on a dozen more gems, before finishing with an even more complicated combining ritual. The final step was to grow and charge a significantly larger golem frame.

The final result, after four more hours of additional designing and rituals, was a large, four-legged golem horse. The top of its head was easily seven, maybe eight feet off the ground, its body made from coils and plates of enhanced wood, meaning it was at least as tough as the combat golems, who I suspected were at the very least bulletproof to pistol calibers. Its eyes were a pair of blue sapphires, while its hooves were bent cuts of steel rebar, ritualized to give the large golem the grip it needed to run at full tilt no matter what it was running on. A pair of thick vine reins grew out of its face, completed with a thick green mane made from flexible green vines and leaves.

When I finally pushed the golem core into its chest, curling inches of enhanced wood around it to protect it, the large wooden animal raised its hoof and scraped along the platform before looking around, shaking its head as if agitated. I had pulled heavily from one of the branches of ritual magic I was missing, pushing what I did have as far as it could go, basically touching into the very concept of equine to imbue the golem with a higher level of lifelike behavior. It wasn't really alive, but if I kept feeding magic, the golem core should continue to evolve and shift until it was kind of sort of alive, or at least indistinguishable from an actual horse.

What I had done was on the very edge of my knowledge, even pushing off into a subject I didn't know anything about. It was encouraging since it meant I could still make progress in my subjects without spending points. I just needed to know enough about them to do my own work.

"Aren't you a monster of a mount?" I said, patting the golem's back. "You are going to scare the absolute shit out of people. What should I call you? I was thinking of Bolt, but I'm not sure that fits… Any ideas, Alya?"

"Gust?" She suggested, standing behind me in her solid form. "Perhaps Northern Winds?"

"I don't know... maybe that last one..."

I walked around and examined my new mount, using my druidcraft to shift and shape it, covering any gaps and rounding out any imperfections. I also grabbed a chunk of moss, laid it out on its back, and used druidcraft to grow it into a saddle. I then grew hundreds of thin root-like vines over it to keep it from falling apart as I sat on it.

By the time I was truly done with my mount, it was pushing midnight. Part of me wanted to just wait until the following day to deliver the four golems, but I knew I would never sleep knowing the community was undefended. I quickly changed into my costume before jumping up and mounting my wooden steed.

"Okay, buddy, it's time to go. Nice and slow until we get to the forest edge," I said, unable to stop smiling as I rubbed the side of his face.

At nothing more than a slow walk, the yet-to-be-named horse crossed the ritual platform, stepping down off of it without hesitating, making his way through the brush and undergrowth of the forest. As we moved through the yet-to-filled clearing, I whistled to the motionless golems, who immediately started to follow, quickly setting into a single file line. We looked more than a bit strange, weaving through the trees and fallen logs, four wooden golems following after me silently, like a creepy bipedal line of ducklings.

Once we were free of the forest clutter, following along the hiking trail, I nudged my mount with my heels, the golem picking up speed until it was moving at a nice trot. The golem stallion was plenty smart enough to follow the trail on his own if I left him to it, so I focused on enjoying the view and keeping an eye on the combat golem. As we went, Alya and I discussed name ideas, but nothing we could come up with really felt like it fit.

It was about fifteen minutes of casual riding before we made it to the city proper, past some of the less densely populated spaces that surrounded it. Once we were close, I guided my questionable parade through the streets, moving with a particular target in mind. A nice long street that ran a good way down from the western side of the city, across and into the Docks. It was far from the most optimal route, but it did make the perfect place to test my mount's top speed.

When I arrived, I instructed the bipedal golems to walk down to the other end of the long street, which was thankfully lined with mostly businesses and offices. Once they started to move on their own, walking down the sidewalk at a leisurely pace, I guided my golem mount to the center of the street. At this point, it was nearing one in the morning, and with the city's reputation, the street was clear until the end.

"Are you sure this is a good idea?" Alya asked.

"What are they going to do, pull me over for speeding? Besides, I do actually need to know how fast he can go,"" I said with a smirk, reaching down to pat his neck. "You ready, big guy? C'mon, let's see just how fast you are."

I finally leaned down a bit, holding onto one of the many partially hidden handholds built into my mount's wooden body.

"Ya!"

My mount took off in a split second, its lack of actual muscles showing as its acceleration was almost instant. The buildings and lamps along the street were a blur as the echoing sound of clopping hooves filled the street. I could feel myself bouncing on the saddle, with only my handholds, meager horse-riding skills, and enhanced strength keeping me from being thrown off. The wind whipped by my head, tugging and pulling at my mask and hat.

"Faster!" I called out, starting to pour magic into the golem through the handholds.

With a wild neigh, the artificial construct sped up again, sparks flying off from each impact of his metal horseshoe on the asphalt. I could see that its blue eyes were glowing, and I could feel a crackling energy trail behind us. The world was a blur as we went faster and faster. Finally, I could see the end of the road in the distance, so I pulled back on one of the handholds. The golem immediately started to slow down, and its galloping decreased until we were slow enough to stop.

With a pull in the reins, I turned back to spot the still walking golems in the distance. I couldn't help but laugh at just how far we had come in only a few seconds of running.

"Damn… Wonder if they would let me compete in the Kentucky Derby…"