167 My SI Stash #67 - Harry Dresden I am not: A Favored Soul in Gotham SI by KnightofTempest (DCU)

-SI to Gotham as the Champion of Bahamut~ It seems to be a crossover fic with some elements of DnD! Interesting new fic, check it out!

Sypnosis: Thrust into the DCU by the dragon god of Justice, our intrepid hero, now a Favored Soul of Bahamut, attempts to become Gotham's only wizard in the phone book. Unfortunately, he's no Harry Dresden. . .

Rated: ???

Words: 14K

Posted on: https://forums.spacebattles.com/threads/harry-dresden-i-am-not-a-favored-soul-in-gotham-si.809153/#post-63275660 (KnightofTempest)

PS: If you're not able to copy/paste the link, you have everything in here to find it, by simply searching the author and the story title. It sucks that you can't copy links on mobile (´ー｀)

-I'll be putting the chapter ones of all the fanfics mentioned, to give you guys a sample if you wan't more please do go to the website and support the author! (And maybe even convince them to start uploading chapters in here as well!)

Chapter 0+1

I sat in a room. Thick smoke hung in the air, as if someone was smoking, the scent of incense, blood, and stranger things clawed at my nostrils. I had no idea how I'd gotten here, only that I had gone to sleep in my bed and woke up here in a plush chair. The only other occupant in the room was a man with platinum blonde hair in a suit that seemed to shimmer like the scales of some great beast. He was smoking a Hooka and smiling at me. There was a warmth in that smile that belied the sense of too big teeth that I got from the physical action. It was like looking at the maw of a gigantic beast, even if the beast was friendly, it could still swallow you whole.

"I was hoping you'd come. I've been trying to summon someone for ages now." Grinned the Man as he exhaled smoke from his Hooka, the smoke curling into shapes before my eyes. Forming swords, shields, and dragons.

It was with all these context clues that I started to piece together the identity of this man. "I suppose that dreaming a meeting with Bahamut isn't the strangest dream I've ever had." I said.

The man grinned and said, "A few clues and you immediately knew me. This is exactly why I require someone of your intelligence."

"What are you talking about?" I asked conversationally. Inwardly I was imagining a waitress bringing me a drink. If I was going to dream about meeting a god in some sort of bar, I ought to at least get a pint out of it.

"Ah, you see I have need of a Champion, to go where I normally cannot. Luckily there is a universe where I can send one to act in my name that wouldn't be too out of place. Still such an expansion of my domains would require a certain expenditure of power to set up. Of course the fact that I'd be able to get one over on my bitch of a sister makes such an expenditure more palatable to my other siblings. If you accept my proposal, you will be endowed with a portion of my power to act in the name of Justice." He said.

"Wait, I know this is a dream and that logic isn't exactly concrete because of that, but I'm fairly certain that I count as Chaotic Good on the alignment scale. Isn't that not something that a follower of yours can be?" I asked.

"Normally yes, but strict adherence to the law will be detrimental where you're going, and a new plane requires new rules. I expect whatever aspect of me winds up taking hold there will be somewhat deviant from the norm. Even so, I'm asking you to do it." Said Bahamut.

"So essentially wherever you want me to go requires more fluid thinking than you're used to?" I asked, once more trying to mentally get a drink in this dream.

"Just so. Of course you will be well compensated. You're dimensional counterpart has a decent set up over there and you would be merging with and replacing him. You wouldn't be in danger of going homeless. Besides which, the plane desperately needs someone with the metaknowledge and skills you will be able to provide. Very bad things are in store for its future after all." Said Bahamut.

"So I set myself up there and do what exactly?" I asked.

"You do good. As a plane it needs more heroes. Perhaps more so than ever before, with perhaps one notable exception." Replied Bahamut.

"You know what? Sure, I'll bite. Its my dream anyway, what could possibly go wrong?" I asked. Still no waitress.

"I would have thought you'd have figured it out by now." Grinned Bahamut as he laid a finger on my chest.

"Figured what out?" I asked.

"This is no dream." Grinned Bahamut.

Suddenly I felt an energy course through my body from the finger on my chest, as if the very Talon of Bahamut was piercing my heart. I bit down on my lip to keep from screaming in pain as I felt power etch itself into my very soul. I bit down hard enough to draw blood, but found that no blood would well up. For all the burning pain of the power coursing through me, no physical harm was being done to me. Perhaps none was allowed to be done to me. Finally able to stand no more pain I cried out as the power coursing through me reached a crescendo. A flash of white light filled my vision and I passed out.

The next thing I was able to recall was a clock radio waking me up. "Good Morning Gotham! This is WKUK-Gotham bringing you the classic rock you love in the Morning! Here's one from back in 1976, off of Agents of Fortune here's Blue Oyster Cult with Don't Fear the Reaper!" Sounded the Radio.

As I woke up and listened to what was probably Blue Oyster Cult's best known song, my brain caught up with what had just happened. I looked around to find this room very different from the one I went to sleep in. For one thing, there was a stand of armor and a quarterstaff in one corner of the room that looked to be some kind of fantasy equipment silvery metal plates over a backing of padded leather and a dark metal quarterstaff. For another the bookcases and bed were in different positions and the laptop on the desk wasn't an Origin laptop but some kind of brand involving a W, if the sticker in back was anything to go by.

It was at this point that my brain finally caught up to me. "Did that Radio say Gotham?" I asked no one in particular. With no answer but the sounds of the Radio I padded over to the laptop to find that the W on it stood for WayneTech. There was an Icon of a dragon on the Desktop that said "Read me: From Bahamut." Under it.

"Oh fuck." Was all I could think. . .

Chapter 1

Ok first things first, don't panic. So I've been dropped into the worst city in a world of superheros and supervillains. That can be figured out, after all I have a literal God on my side. Figure out your first step. I thought furiously.

"I should probably read the file Bahamut left on my laptop first. Yeah, that seems like a good step one. Step 2 should be to figure out my counterpart's life. I recalled I shared a last name with one of the big political families in Gotham, so maybe I was related to them in some way. I think Armand Krol was mayor of Gotham at some point pre cataclysm. That would make me safe in terms of money, but potentially connected to the Court of Owls, which would be a bad thing if I was gonna actually help the good guys here. Fuck it, research that later Bahamut's files now." I muttered to myself, thinking out loud.

I headed over to the Laptop to check out that file. Reading through it was something of an experience. Apparently I was a level 5 Favored Soul of Bahamut, I had apparently knowledge of every spell Bahamut could give me but could only cast up to what my level allowed. I had been given a Mithral Tumbler's Breastplate +2 and a Collapsible Adamantine Longspear +2 from Bahamut's Hoard along with my powers. Checking the armor and quarterstaff in the corner I could see that the quarterstaff was indeed a longspear, just having part of it collapsable so I could use it as a quarterstaff in closer quarters. It apparently still counted as a Longspear for the Purposes of favored weapons. I could apparently access and make changes to, my character sheet by meditating. As a final gift from Bahamut I was apparently the Nephew of Mayor Armand Krol, which let me be independent monitarily, my father, Leon Krol had apparently married below his station and was considered the black sheep of the family, which meant I wasn't invited to partake in the usual court of owls shenanigans. This effectively gave me a free hand in setting up a Private Eye business not tied to my family. It seemed that before I had shown up, my counterpart had been studying the Occult at Gotham University and had just graduated last year to become an occult detective.

"Man, Bahamut put me in a decent starting position." I said.

Of course having Armand be Mayor meant that Contagion, Cataclysm, and No Man's Land would be coming up, along with two more crises, Blackest Night, and a whole host of other things, but for right now I had a few months to establish myself.

"Ok step one is done, what next? Maybe I should check my sheet?" I asked myself.

That seemed like a good idea, so I began to meditate. I sat on my bed in the Lotus Position and closed my eyes. I breathed in and out. In and out. In and out. It could have been seconds or hours but eventually I got a picture of my character sheet in my mind. My skills were already spoken for, but I had 3 feats to pick from. What amazed me was that I could pick from Pathfinder feats as well, which said interesting things about Bahamut, but I quickly selected Luck of Heroes, Combat Expertise, and Improved Initiative. I figured I'd get training from the Justice League at some point if I did what Bahamut wanted me to do and it seemed that would count for bonus feats according to Bahamut's Read Me, so I wasn't too worried right now. Better to have a solid foundation for further improvement.

With that done I showered and dressed and checked my messages. It seemed that there was one case I could take right away that would see me do some good. A Woman had contacted me about her missing daughter. It seemed she'd fallen in with a bad crowd, one related to the Falcone Family, and had just disappeared one day. With the Falcones and Moronis currently going at it, she feared that her daughter had been kidnapped by the Moroni family as leverage against her boyfriend, who was apparently an up and coming associate of the Falcone family.

Ordinarily this would be something the Bat would be into, but I figured he'd be more interested in the higher ups of the two Families and stopping the overall war than on rescuing one kid. Really, gotham needed more than one hero and his immediate associates. The Batfamily couldn't exactly be everywhere, and the only other hero I knew of currently a resident of Gotham was Jason Blood/Etrigan and Etrigan didn't really get involved in non-magical situations. If we were where I thought we were in the timeline, Batman was still broodily insisting everyone else stay out of Gotham. That was gonna bite him in the ass soon with No Man's Land. Fortunate I was here to pick up the slack.

I accepted the Job and immediately began to plan what to do. Unfortunately, divination was a 5th level spell and I wasn't yet able to cast it, however I could go towards where the fighting was and potentially follow the Moroni thugs back to their safehouse, I would need to capture a prisoner while there and use Zone of Truth to question them, but I might be able to do it if I was quick and lucky enough. Of course any action would need to be taken at night time, so I had some time to kill.

Checking my other messages I looked to see what I had. Ah, that was interesting, I had an email from Jason Blood wanting to talk to the "Young Occultist who so openly advertised his services." Obviously he didn't approve of my counterpart's decision to put his occult detective agency in the phone book. Apparently not even Constantine was Brazen enough to do that. I wonder how he squared Madame Xanadu advertising her shop on billboards or Zatanna performing stage shows in front of packed crowds with that traditionalist mindset? Still, I couldn't really afford to snub him, he may well be the only other spell slinger in Gotham who wasn't a villain of some sort. I replied that I was free this afternoon but had a pressing engagement this evening.

I was immediately greeted with an acceptance of my schedule and an invitation to afternoon tea at his townhouse at 3pm sharp along with directions. Modern depictions of Jason Blood were typically sufficiently edgy back home to make you forget that he was British, an honest to God Knight of the Round Table at that. I chuckled to myself.

"Well, at least my first contact with the Heroic set isn't going to be a fight." I smirked.

After all, that was how team ups usually started. . .