The Inherited Build

The greatest build in Vessengarde can be yours. All it costs is everything. Idris Kell is a runner with a hole in his boot, eleven hundred and fifty Essence of debt, and eight days before his paper goes to a man with a hook. Then a Guild factor slides a slip across the counter: a Legacy Bond. A titled hero died without an heir, the Guild needs a name on the paper, and if Idris signs, his debt is cleared to the last copper — and the best build in the city comes with it. Ninety ranks. Nine skills. A name eleven thousand people kneel to. It also comes with six thousand Essence of Debt, accruing a hundred and eighty a day, and a collector called a Debt-Reaver who takes the build apart foundation-first and never moves the figure he is supposedly collecting. Every rank Idris sells down buys him six hundred Essence and three Build Points — and is published on the escutcheon roll at the next Poll, where the whole city can watch the Gilded get lighter, month by month. He can get weaker. There is no way on earth to get weaker quietly.