Skirmish (The Stork Tower Book 8)

by Tony Corden

  Leah took almost the full five minute period allowed to come to a decision as this changed a number of her assumptions. In the end, she chose the option which forced each team to keep playing through the break periods. This added another sixty-three players to the force strength, with two-hundred and fifty expected to be online at every stage of the battle. This scenario added an extra level of complexity for the tacticians on each team. These players didn’t substitute in and out but changed the on-field dynamics with every transition. The battle would now be played over fifty-seven virtual hours.

  Over the next three hours, Leah was forced time and again to rethink her options, as Meredith and her team reacted unexpectedly—often in ways that seemed at odds with the data Gèng and Reed had collated on them. Even so, each of the other critical components of Leah’s plan were selected and the final outcome, if a tie, would be decided by a ‘Client Battle’ involving the clients whose names appeared on the contract. Meredith was able to choose the weapons for this battle and chose edged weapons.

  Meredith spent five minutes deciding whether to choose to disclose players or not, and this more than anything convinced Leah that Meredith was no longer reacting as if Leah was an unschooled upstart who would be easily defeated but was finally acting as if Leah was a danger. In the end, Meredith decided that player identities were not made public. Leah increased the pool of fighters to five-hundred, which allowed players to take the place of others as needed.

  The meeting had lasted seven and a half hours by the time all options had been decided. After Dr Hutchins had declared the meeting over, Meredith and her team disappeared immediately without acknowledging Dr Hutchins, Carl or Leah. Leah said, “Mr Carl, Dr Hutchins, thank you for mediating. I do apologise for being rude at the beginning.”

  Dr Hutchins said, “H: Ms Carroll, it seems I misjudged your abilities, and I apologise if I sounded condescending at the beginning. I suspect everyone involved has had to rethink their assumptions.”

  “I know I did. I’ll need to work hard to make the appropriate changes to my plans.”

  “H: As a client mediator, I’m constrained to be impartial in these meetings, as is Carl. Even so, I wish you the best and would have been willing to join your team if I still played.”

  “Thank you. I appreciate the honour that would’ve been. I’d best go and deliver the news to my team and rework the plan.”

  With that, Leah nodded towards Carl then logged out.

  Diary - 28 December, 2073 - AM

  I wonder if Louise sees herself as Meredith. Has she so bought into the deception that she thinks killing Meredith’s niece is the same as killing hers? I suppose I think of myself as Charlotte when I’m in Pneumatica, but I hope I’m not so lost in the game that I forget who I really am. No, I do forget when I’m in the moment. I am the Empress Atherleah. I am a commodore. When I race in TRAX, I’m me, or am I only one of a number of MEs that there are? The me who races is a different me to the one who studies in Academia. Will the real Atherleah please stand up? I suspect they all come to their feet, even the dragon. Is there a loving and caring Louise somewhere in her repertoire? What difference does it make if there is?

  What does it matter if something or someone doesn’t reach their potential? Is that really a bad thing? Is being average at something when you could excel at it, bad? What if I fail at one thing but excel at another when I could succeed at both? If Gèng is correct and many PAI are nascent EPICS, is it wrong if they never obtain sentience? Maybe there is no correct answer, and this is one of those things where any answer is OK. Still, I can’t see mum being OK with Conner just passing because he was out playing with his friends, and yet she says relationships are more important.

  It was strange to discover Dr Ellis had fallen for the arguments given in the media. He’s intelligent and able to see through all the dross of the science but can’t make it through a simple news story. I wonder if I’m the same and have my own blindspots. I must have. What are they? How do I find them? Every day I have more questions and fewer answers, and yet I’m more firmly set on my course than ever before. Maybe the thing to remember is to never stop asking questions.

  43

  December 28, 2073

  STORK TOWER

  As Leah appeared in the Tower, she said, “Three, please send the final list to John, Ivan, Noah and Yuè Fēi. Tell them I understand if the details change the level of help they can give, but I’m still hoping they can help. Also, start approaching people you know who play Warrior, and begin negotiations for an option for their services like Noah suggested. ”

  “3: I will do that. I also informed Thad and Amy of the delay and they’ve passed the message on to the others in Dunyanin. Gèng suggested you might have a shortened day in Dunyanin as you have other constraints on the day. In anticipation of this, I also mentioned it to Thad and Amy as a possibility.”

  “Thank you. I suspect Gèng’s decision is the best and six hours will be enough to deal with the dwarves and prepare to move away from Siddetli. I’ll take a short break now and have my NREM3 sleep later in the day.”

  With that, Leah logged out for her mandated break.

  Fifteen minutes later as Leah felt the Tower form around her, she realised she was in the part of the Tower where Gèng organised, kept and displayed what she collected on Dunyanin. Gèng was waiting and said, “4: I analysed your play since you returned to the multiverse and suggest you spend some time organising and restocking your backpack. You’ve been using the Darkness Diamonds freely and are running low on your healing potions. If you have time, you might need to make some more.”

  Altogether, it took ten virtual minutes for Leah and Gèng to reorganise what she had and restock. They only managed to finish it that quickly by working at cyber-speed. Despite the work Peter did to sell what she collected, the volume of material continued to grow faster than he could dispose of it. She filled Lady Serseri’s Chest of Communication with the tokens she’d taken from Kevin along with the various coins she’d collected, including those she’d taken from Çaresiz. Leah also fit the Megapede choker around her neck.

  Before heading for the portal to Dunyanin Leah then spent another twelve minutes multi-tasking at cyber-speed reviewing her options, examining the Merkize disc and combing through what she, Gèng and Three could find in the various forum and public feeds on War of the Gods. Finally, after what was the equivalent of over twenty-four hours consideration she’d only managed to come up with a vague plan.

  DUNYANIN

  After stepping through the portal, Leah read through the messages from the last few days and then checked her BSB. She was still considered fifteen percent divine, but the Frost Lord’s concentrated blood had increased her draconic make-up to thirty percent darkness-dragon and thirty percent frost-dragon. This left her twenty-five percent, which was split evenly between her Barbarian-human and Forest-elf racial make-up. The concentrated blood had overfilled her BSP by twenty percent.

  The armour she’d been given by Lady A’lev Sevgilisi not only transformed to fit her now larger frame, but the areas which had been damaged had been repaired by the various spells the dragon had infused into their creation. She could feel the darkness and frost elemental aspects of her make-up as they moved through her body and wasn’t too surprised when she realised the frost elemental mana avoided those areas covered by the scales of the fire dragon. In contrast, the darkness elemental mana avoided the regions covered with the scales of the life dragon.

  Yürek was waiting as Leah stepped from her tent. He connected psychically to her and said, “Y☼: Good morning, War Leader, Thad and Amy explained you were delayed. Most of the army is dealing with the smaller groups who continue to arrive hoping to kill you. The rest of the army are attempting the various dungeons. Several have made their way to the winnowing maze and seek entry to the Citadel of Frost. Most of these have so far reappeared at the resurrection point. Val, Shaman, Granite and Mist are with Jack’s team and are exploring parts of the moun
tain that have not been visited by travellers before.

  “Günahkâr scouts report that the numbers arriving are declining and the Travellers in your army report that they have news that large groups are forming outside major cities in preparation for whichever new location you head to. You can move quickly, but if you cannot take the entire army, I suspect you will find yourself besieged within one day. You will need to keep moving constantly.”

  “Thank you, Yürek, I’ve been thinking about that very issue before I came here today. I’ve a few ideas, but I need to talk them over with you and the clan leadership. Before I do, I was wondering if you had any thoughts on who to leave in command of the army if I have to move ahead with just a few people?”

  “Y☼: Fetheden is well respected for her strength and tactics, but I suspect most of those in your army would find it easier to take the orders of a Traveller. If I limited the options to Travellers, then three names come to mind. The first is your friend Jack. He is used to leading a group and seems to have no problem seeing a larger picture. Several times he has taken command of a bigger unit and been very successful. One of the teams is run by a plains-elf ranger. She and her team have been very successful under her leadership. The Rüzgâr I embedded in her team has shared the elf’s tactics, and these helped redirect our attacks in the first battle.”

  “Is that the scout called Brin? The one without shoes?”

  “Y☼: Yes, her full chosen name is Celebrindal’s_Heir. She is formidable with the sword and is skilled in both air and silence magic.”

  “Thank you, I apologise for interrupting. Who is the third?”

  “Y☼: One of the humans from Ovalar, he leads from the front in each fight but sets the tactics for his group. He is probably not best for overall command. Large conflicts can change quickly, and new directions sometimes need to be given. Still, he is well suited to be in the command group to determine tactics. His team call him PoD, but others call him Kull or Kreaper. His chosen name is Kull_the_Soul_Reaper. The Günahkâr with his team has learned some tactics which take us further down our path.”

  “Would you arrange for Thad, Amy and Wisp to join us here? After I speak with them, I’ll visit the dwarves then talk with Fetheden and Sevelin. If possible, I’ll also see the three you mentioned.”

  Yürek didn’t move, but Leah could sense the psychic instructions being relayed. Within minutes, she could feel Thad and the others approaching. After greeting them, they all sat, and Leah said, “I’m sorry I was late. Besides my meeting, I also had to review what needed to be done here, which took some time. In addition, this war which will only continue to grow and I need to keep moving. If I read the Merkize disc correctly, then we need to visit each of the continents. The disc mentions conquering four more mountain ranges like this one. I also need to claim five more lost cities, and I’m almost certain some of these are on the other continents. There are three lost treasure caverns to find. While I think I know where one of them is, the clues suggest I need to gather items from places across Vatan if we’re going to succeed in plundering it.

  “As well as those big items, I’ve counted more than eighty other dungeons or quests which are mentioned. I’m not convinced these all have to be beaten or achieved, but I’d like to do as many as we can. If possible, I probably need to try and do even more if I’m to get my level as high as the other players. Ignoring travel time and factoring in multiple days to achieve some of the challenges and then adding seven more challenge days means we have to locate, travel to and defeat one dungeon every five days.

  “Travelling with the clan will be too slow, but we also need to find a way to have some of them if we’re in one place for more than a day. We can use Lord Seyahat’s artefact, but each time we do we would need to discuss it with Lord Seyahat. Peter said that his impression was that it was unlikely to get permission to use it more than once or twice a month. I checked the various forums. They suggest that even that often would be more than the gods usually allow their major artefacts to be used. We need to discuss how we can use the members of the clan who want to help. We need to give them opportunities to fight and do dungeons while keeping our options open so they can help if we need it. Everything I read points to the war not only ramping up here, but across all the continents.”

  Amy said, “A: Also, we’ve thousands wanting to join the clan, and our acceptance procedure can’t keep up with the numbers. Rather than compromise the process, I’d like to suggest we encourage those already in clans to work towards those clans being accepted as affiliates of Clan Guàn. This will mean we aren’t compromising the entry process and will have some control over the clan’s growth. If we get much larger than we are at the moment, we’ll lose our focus. I bring this up because you’ll need to find a way to mold the different groups into a cohesive army—already we have the clan, the Imperial guards and now the dwarf mages. We’ve seen what happens if each group fights on their own.”

  Leah explained what she and Yürek had discussed. Then Wisp said, “I admit I haven’t spent a lot of time with any of them, but I don’t think Jack would want to take on all that responsibility. I suspect, on the other hand, that Brin would thrive with more responsibility. She’s a lot like you and seems to flourish with the added pressure. Pod’s respected for his skills and intelligence but even his team don’t really like him all that much. Pod is the nickname they gave him—it means ‘Prince of Darkness’!”

  Each of the others contributed more to the discussion, then Thad said, “T: What options do we have to move people around besides paying for expensive teleport spells?”

  There was silence for a moment, then Amy said, “A: Could our enchanters create a similar spell?”

  Leah said, “Maybe, I’ll go talk with them after we finish here. Peter wasn’t confident that they could the last time I discussed it with him. I could probably create a portal spell to somewhere I’ve been before. However, I’ve still not worked out how to do it without using blood magic, which involves samples from everyone travelling. Even trying to transport myself would probably take most of my mana. I’m not even sure how to change the spell to let someone else cast it.”

  Wisp said, “Could we ask one of the other gods to help? In many ways, this is really their war.”

  “A: I doubt they’ll be able to help without some agreement from Lord Seyahat. He’s the god of Journeys and Peter said he wanted to keep his neutrality. Could we approach one of the twenty lesser gods who still haven’t chosen a focus?”

  “I had thought of that, and while they might be willing to select a focus and become something like the god of Doorways, I suspect it would probably set Lord Seyahat against us.”

  “T: I understand you haven’t got a spell that can be used by others, but could you create an artefact? I mean, you are, as Acinin said, a godling.”

  While the others chuckled, Leah considered the question. The others knew her well enough that even when she hadn’t moved for several minutes, they sat quietly waiting.

  44

  December 28, 2073

  DUNYANIN

  Finally, after not moving for almost ten minutes, Leah said, “I think it could be possible. It would probably need to be at the level of a Divine Artefact. The two I’ve created so far have been accidental more than anything, but I understand what went into them. If I could make one that will help us plan.”

  Leah shook her head as if to clear it then said, “Unless there are more ideas, I need to go talk with the enchanters as well as deal with the dwarves.”

  Even with only Amy’s image displayed against Leah’s skin, Leah could tell that Amy was a little nervous about something, she said, “What’s on your mind, Amy?”

  Amy paused then said, “A: Well, it’s something that’s been on my mind for a while, but please don’t see it as a criticism. One of my friends, a guy called Scott, asked if you shared comments on any of the forums. I know you read what others have written and think you’d be able to help people even if it was only givi
ng pointers on what to look for or how to think. You’ve some ideas about what is needed to create an artefact. That information would help hundreds of mages, or developing mages, improve their gaming. Things have been pretty hectic, I know that, but if you had a few minutes here and there you’d be helping the wider gaming community.”

  Leah sighed, then said, “I guess. No, that came out wrong. You’re right, and I should be fair to the community that’s been a real bonus in furthering my own understanding of the game. When I started playing, I wanted to make just enough money to do my studies and at the same time, remain as unobtrusive as I could. Things have changed, and you’re right that I need to be fair to all those who’ve helped me. Give me a few days to think through how I can help without making it a simple formula people will just try and follow. Thanks for letting me know what you were thinking. Anything else we need to discuss?”

  When no one said anything, Leah said, “I’m going to have a talk with the enchanters, and then I’ll be heading to see the dwarves. What are you guys going to do?”

  “A: If you don’t mind I’ll tag along with you or go see Mĕi. People keep wanting me to tell them how to enter Lady Seviç’s temple, but she asked us not to. If I’m with you or Mĕi, they’ll keep their distance.”

  Leah hadn’t heard what Amy and the others had found, and chatted with Amy and Wisp as she made her way to where the various craftsmen were working. There were several enchanters, and Leah spoke with them for half an hour before stepping away. She sent a message to Peter with a request for specific ingredients. She then sent him Lady Serseri’s Chest of Communication. Leah was going to teleport to where the dwarves were, but both Mĕi and Mìng wanted to fly with her, so Leah changed into her dragon form. Thad and Wisp sat between her front shoulders, so she transformed several of the spines along her back to form seats with hand grips. Amy flew aboard Mĕi with both Melez and Yürek. The rest of the hand assigned to Leah were on Mìng.