“Yeah, but I will with her. It’s not like I don’t get it. I’d be pissed too if I knew the guy who kidnapped and tortured me for months got even a slight chance to escape.” Silence fell for a minute as I finished cleaning up after my shave.
“Well, here in a few minutes the priests and people of the town are going to throw us a little feast. Are you hungry?” My stomach rumbled louder than thunder. We met eyes, and we both laughed. “Well, that answers that question. When you’re ready the stairs down to the dinning hall are just out your door and to the left.” We said our momentary goodbyes, and he left me to sit and contemplate the events of what I assumed were yesterday.
I had leveled up, which was awesome. Though I still needed to ‘realize’ the level up by opening the notification from Ethria, and then selecting my characteristic upgrades and any other bonuses I might have gained. I also had a ton of ‘hidden’ class quests I had completed and were waiting for my attention. I already had a few things planned for that purchasing spree, but I felt it all needed to wait.
First thing I did was clear out all the damage and battle notifications. I soaked in the information, but nothing other than the Time Lords Inferno 2 stood out to me as particularly important. I whistled when I realized I had done over two thousand damage, and that had just knocked the guy out.
I then read through my XP notifications. They were far too many to go through over the last two days, so I just looked at the total number at the bottom of the screen. 80,199 XP. My jaw almost hit the floor. I had gained another two levels just from the day’s events. I didn’t want to spend all day doing character maintenance, so I decided to just do the first level and on our trip back north I’d finish with the rest. I would also spend that time completing the designs for the new enchantments needed for the mobile settlements that we would use during the trek towards the Krag.
Along the way I had a few stops to make, like at the Twins to meet with leaders of the barge guild, and several mercenary houses that owed me a favor after stabbing me in the back. I was sick of hearing about refugees turning into cut throats just to survive, or getting robbed by local lords and ladies or priests in taxes because no one was there to enforce their rights.
I had plans to deal with those problems on a systematic level, and things were finally coming together. But for now, all I needed was to gain a level and then go enjoy some good food with good people. I opened the level upgrade and was greeted by a prompt that made me smile.
You have leveled up! You are now level 12. You receive 1 characteristic point to distribute yourself, 2 that will be randomly distributed between your Class Preferred Characteristics, and 1 randomly distributed among all available characteristics. As you are level 12 you are able to choose a Profession. You may do that under the Profession screen. Current XP:100,679, total XP needed for next level 40,960.
I made my selection.
You have gained 1 pt in Constitution. Class Preferred Characteristics Selected: Intelligence and Emotional Stability. Random assignment made: Perception. New Scores: Constitution, 17. Intelligence, 24. Emotional Stability, 26.
I felt my body and mind change slightly. I could think faster, and the cares and concerns of the last few days seemed just a little more distant. My aching and randomly cramping muscles eased slightly, and everything around me felt just a little more vivid. I got up, picked up my staff because no self-respecting wizard is ever away from his staff, and walked down to the dinning hall.
---
The crowded hall was ruckus, filled with laughter, stories, and songs. The hall, like much of the place, was built out of a mix of wood and stone with tall, vaulted ceilings. The people sat at six long tables, and I could clearly hear the sounds of other people in other parts of the temple complex eating with as much ruckus as those in the main hall.
I scanned the crowd and found my friends, all but Pina, sitting around a table already digging into what was clearly breakfast food. I sat down and one of the acolytes who I had spotted stalking the halls a few times on my way here placed a plate of food in front of me. It was simple, fried eggs, something that resembled mashed potatoes, another type of carrot, but some of the younger stalks were pink color rather than a healthy orange, and three strips of hardy bacon. At least I thought it was bacon. It looked like bacon; it smelled like bacon, and oh, as I bit into my first piece, it tasted like the richest best bacon I had ever had. I sighed and leaned back as I devoured the first thick piece. Each of them was about a foot long, and that was cooked.
“Look, even he enjoys the meat.” Tol’geth said, motioning towards me with a massive paw that held two thick strips of bacon. Oil and juice from the pieces flew from his hand and hit me in the face.
“Really?”
“Yeah, but he hardly counts. He’s another human. Meat is gross. I mean, how can you even think about eating another thing? Something that felt scared, hungry, sad, lonely, all that stuff. I don’t get it.” Ailsa was happily chewing on a piece of sweetened bread slathered in honey.
“Don’t tell me you’re a vegan,” I said jokingly as I whipped my face with one sleeve.
“Of course I’m not. I’m a vegetarian. Bees make way too good honey in this world for me to go fully flower muncher.” I snorted. “You guys do what you’re going to do, I just don’t like bacon, or any other meat.” My ears perked up as I saw three large, well cooked, juicy strips on her plate.
“Then I’ll just take those off your hands.” A fork was slammed into the table just in front of my slowly creeping fingers.
“I already called them,” Traser complained. Dale laughed. He was out of the running already, being too far from the plate to reach. “They’re mine!”
“You can’t call meat. Particularly bacon. That’s just wrong. Ask the owner than you can take it. Ailsa can I —” Tol’geth barked a harsh laugh.
“I already asked. They are mine!” Ailsa zapped his hand with a tiny lightning spell and he withdrew his meat hooks.
“You asked, but I didn’t give. So, I get to decide who gets them. Rayid, Traser, Tol’geth. You may fight for the right.” Me and Traser complained, but she just tisked sadly. “I will crown the strongest the Bacon King! Ruler of all bacon from my plate. Now, here are the rules.”
---
Ten minutes later, the tables had been pulled back and a long area had been left open for us to play our stupid game. It was essentially Red-Light, Green-Light. Whoever could get close enough to touch the plate, without getting caught by Ailsa for moving when they weren’t supposed to, would win the game.
I had removed my robe going instead in just my plain shirt and trousers. Traser had removed his plate armor, and Tol’geth. Well, Tol’geth just went as himself, though he took off the thick fur cloak he wore practically everywhere.
“Green light!” Ailsa shouted, and people cheered. We all rushed forward, but I knew how to play this game. I kept my weight evenly distributed so I could stop when I needed to. “Red light!” She shouted and turned around. Tol’geth nearly fell, but he kept his feet planted. Traser skidded down to one knee. “You’re out, knight boy!” Traser laughed and joined the crowd.
Tol’geth was in front of me by a few steps, but if he kept making rookie mistakes like not keeping his balance, he was going to lose. I had a leg up here. “Green light!” she shouted, and I had to keep myself from sprinting full out. Tol’geth on the other hand, fell over, coming out of his odd pose. He fell directly in front of me and before he could get up, I had stepped over him. “Redlight!” She turned around, and I froze.
Ailsa squinted at the two of us with a scrutiny only she could muster. When she turned and yelled again, I was already moving. I felt a hand grip my ankle, and I glared back at Tol’geth. He used me to stand up, so as he stepped in front of me I extended my leg and he fell to the ground, shaking the floor. Ailsa turned and yelled, “Redlight” just as I fell on top of him.
“Looks like we have to start all over again!” Ailsa said, clapping her hands delighte
dly. “Now, back to your places.”
“I do not think so fae, I have already won.” It took me and Tol’geth a minute to untangle ourselves, but the crowd had already started clapping. As I stood up, I saw it was Pina standing over Ailsa’s plate, already munching down on the bacon strips with a half grin. Far too pleased with herself. “There shall be no bacon king this day, no. For you now have a bacon queen, glorious as the sun and equally generous.” She tossed both of us one of the two remaining pieces of bacon as she finished the third.
“Hey, what about me?” Traiser said from the middle of the crowd. People laughed, but a few murmured support.
“Oh, stow it, you weren’t cheated.” I grumbled as I bit my prize. He laughed and as we sat down to finish our meal, I tossed another piece at him. Conversation filled the chamber again as tables and chairs were replaced.
I learned a lot as the meal went on. Traser and Zed were both fine. Zed had appeared when Pina had, but he didn’t want to take part in the games. Still, he devoured his own bacon allotment with as much gusto as any of us. Dale had killed the hellhound that was after us, only to escape into the forest where the undead were coming from. He found the undead magi that was holding the portal open and ended that threat with a well-placed arrow. The second undead magi who was commanding the zombie and skeleton army had been much easier to kill, according to him. As magi had to focus just to sustain such a large force. Dale’s third bolt of the day had split that target’s skull clean in two.
With the undead magi out of the game, the rest of the undead turned feral. Attacking each other as much as the knights. Most had simply withered away. The magic needed to sustain them gone. Those that survived were easily cut down in their disorganized state. That explained what the angels had said about the undead no longer being a threat.
When I told Zed about the overcharged tier two version of the spell, he laughed. “That’s the stupidest way to enhance the tier of a spell I’ve ever heard! But hey, if it works it works. I guess you would have been stupid not to do it. Does that make me stupid for not being willing to do it? Huh, I’m going to have to think about that one.”
It eventually came out that Ailsa’s little ‘magical dimensional space’ was actually her home, back in the realm of fae. It was a kind of emergency ejection seat for the fae that Ethria had given them when on missions for the courts. If one of them felt their lives were at stake, they could just go home and abandon the contract.
What she had done had put her contract with the Pervolin Gods in jeopardy. But, since it had been at my request, and since the Angels had provided an intercession on my behalf, along with a substantial additional payment to the Pervolins that Ailsa didn’t really know the exact nature of, she had been allowed to return to their service. “I saw mister smiley by the way, he says high and that you’re doing much better than he thought.”
“Really?”
“Yeah! He was really impressed that you survived longer than a week, let alone almost 3 months. I have a feeling if you make it to a year he’s going to have a heart attack.” All I could do was grin and shake my head.
I also learned that nearly half the people that now pact the temple complex were pervolin or other bloodline refugees. That added another thing to my to-do list before we began the long march north. But it wasn’t too much more trouble seeing as I had already planned on bringing the refugees surrounding Fort Saint Michael with us on our way back. More hands made easy work as the saying went, and if there was anything we would have an abundance of over the coming few months, it would be work.
The priests were more than happy to spread the word that the refugees should be prepared to travel within the next few months. When I told them, it would be just a few weeks, they were skeptical. When I insisted, they stopped arguing and agreed to do as I asked. I still caught several mumbled complaints about crazy wizards trying to travel in the height of winter, but I brushed them off. They didn’t know what I had already done and what I was capable of. But I did.
The only problem that morning happened just after breakfast. Tol’geth pulled me to the side as everyone was heading back to pack and get ready. “Pina would like a word, friend Rayid. Do you have a minute?” I nodded, and he showed me to where she was still sitting. Back at the table I had just left. I sat opposite her, and Tol’geth sat next to me.
“So, what’s up? How can I help?”
“You didn’t kill him. Why?”
So we’re just going to come right out and address it, good. “I couldn’t. Literal angels told me I couldn’t if I wanted everyone brought here, healed, and safe. Basically, I could choose to accept their help in which case I had to honor the choice they gave Jekkel, or I could, while wounded, try to kill a dude who had nearly a mile head-start on me. I’m not a runner, you’ve seen that pretty clearly by now I suspect.” She grinned slightly and motioned for me to continue.
“What help were the angels?” she asked.
“Lets see. They healed Zed from what I was pretty sure was a mortal wound, kept Tol’geth from getting eaten alive in the fae realm, and kept Ailsa from getting trapped there, or worse, sent off on some other contract. Oh, and they agreed to bring Dale back from the dead if he had died.” Her eyebrows went up a little at that last one. “If it helps at all, I’m pretty sure if I see him again, I can kill him.”
Pina nodded slowly. Hearing and accepting the truth of my words. “Then you understand how evil he is?” I nodded enthusiastically. “And you know that if I ever see him again, even in the streets of a peaceful city, I will end his miserable existence?” I kept nodding, but slower.
“I accept the necessity of ending a threat like him, yes. But remember, the angel permanently silenced him. From what I understand, that breaks his mana pool completely. There’s no real recovery from that, right?” She moved her hand from side to side.
“There is, and there isn’t. Natural, or normal means? No. But another god, or cosmic power could reverse it if he pleased them enough. Or he could find an artificial alternative. But that is not the only way he is a danger. He has,” she hesitated as if trying to figure out if she could tell me.
“Speak Pina, speak and tell our friend what you told me.” Tol’geth’s hand rested on my shoulder as Pina looked around the room. There were only a couple of acolytes left picking up the occasional dish forgotten by a patron, or pushing in chairs or benches left askew. When her eyes met mine, I knew she would speak of something she thought was not just important and dangerous, but sacred.
“He has the knowledge of reading True Names. Reading aura. My people use it to guide someone through intimate self learning before they become an adult. He used it to, to try to control me. It is a power fundamental to Ethria.” Ailsa appeared on my shoulder and fluttered her wings.
“You’re kidding.” Pina glared at the little fae, and Tol’geth chuckled.
“I told you she would be here. She does not leave his side easily.” Pina rolled her eyes and leaned back, a defeated expression on her face.
“Hey, it’s okay, my people taught our cousins the elves that trick. They taught you. So, by the transitive property of teaching people things, I helped teach you true naming.” Pina glared at Ailsa, but she seemed at least somewhat mollified.
“Fine. So we all agree, he is too dangerous to live.”
“Wait, what is true naming?” I asked. Ailsa sighed.
“We went over this. You know YOUR True Name?” I nodded. “Right, well everyone ELSE has True Names too. The process of True Naming is a process whereby someone reads a person’s aura over a long period of time in intense situations to help them learn their theirs. So they can gain access to more of their character sheet.” I face palmed. She had given me this exact speech months ago, and I had just not been connecting the dots. “Right, well he feels sufficiently stupid.” She said cheerily. “What is your plan? You want to track him down like the dog he is or what? Because I have to tell you, i’m all for that.”
“No, I don’t th
ink so.” Some tension went out of Tol’geth’s shoulders. I realized he had been waiting for her to decide on this subject. “I will accompany you. You seem to attract the deranged and the courageous alike. If he has survived the ordeal, I know he will eventually surface in your orbit. But I will keep my ears open for any hint of his treachery.”
“So you want to join us?” I asked as I looked from one to the other. “Because Dale already said he wants to as well. At least until we can make our way out of Winter’s Rest. We could really use the help. And I’m sure Tol’geth would love the company.” She stiffened and fought from giving off any tells, but it was clear the subject was a touchy one. “Anyway, I’m on board with you joining. If anyone else has a problem, we’ll work it out. Sound good?” She nodded, and I sent her the party invitation. When she accepted, I received two notifications. One I expected, the other I had forgotten about.
You have completed the quest “Class Quest: Gather The Heros. Gather 5 heros in your party to accomplish a grand quest. Current progress: 5 / 5. Heroes Gathered: Tol’geth, Ailsa, Traser, Dale, and Pina. Reward:+100 Class Skill Points. Enhance Ally - See Ability for Details. All Allies currently in the party gain 1 permanent level. All allies now and in the future gain +5 to every skill check, both magical and mundane as long as they remain in the party.
I grinned. “Alright Bacon Queen, we have a lot of work ahead of us, let’s get going.”
Chapter 37: Systemic Solutions
"Someone is sitting in the shade today because someone planted a tree a long time ago." - Warren Buffett
Old Hearth, 11th Novos, 2989 AoR - Nightfall
I stood in front of my latest creation. The culmination of all my hard work and determination. All my planning, all my effort in learning about magic, enchantment, golems, enneagrams, and more. It was finished. And I gloried in it.
“What is it?” Dale asked. My smile fell slightly.
“I told you. It’s a mobile settlement.”
Ethria 3: The Liberator Page 38
