“You’re lucky you got away,” Suri said.
“Am I? Truly? I should have died with my lord. Everything I loved is gone.” The Captain picked up his drink and threw the rest back in a couple of long swallows. His hand trembled as he set the empty cup down. “Now, my only reasons for being here are duty and dread. Duty, because Lord Bolza ordered me to leave and gave me the task of avenging Karhad, and dread, because I cannot bear to think of this plague flowing out from Myszno to cover the rest of the world. But it’s hopeless. The Meewfolk mercenary company deserted just the other day. Food and medicines are short. Talks with the Yanik have faltered, and we have not been able to recruit them to our side. My father’s people, abandoning us! My best scout, Zlaslo, has fallen ill with some disease the healers cannot cure, and Soma ordered the garrison’s hero out into the swamp on a fool’s mission. All for his ego.”
“That doesn’t make any sense.” Suri crossed her arms.
Istvan fixed his gaze on me. “If you think like a self-involved idiot it does. He has not seen the Demon or the full might of his host yet, and scarcely believes it’s as bad as we ‘soft Southerners’ and ‘Yanik swamp rats’ make it out to be. Take Vash Dorha, for example. He is an incredible warrior, loyal and faithful to Lord Bolza’s memory. The sight of him on the walls gave the men hope. He could leap from the bailey up to the bastions in one bound, and he once punched a zombie wyvern that had climbed onto the wall and laid it flat with a single blow. He invented the healing potion that cures Grave Rot. But he is a Baru, and the only master he answers to is Matir. He is proud and insolent to those who do not earn his respect, like Soma. My liege loved that insolence. He used to say that Vash was the incarnation of his conscience.”
“Lord Bolza sounds like a good man,” Rin said.
Istvan bowed his head. “Lord Bolza was the best liege a retainer could have asked for. Honest. Fair. Just. He was a melancholy man, prone to fits of brooding, but you would find no man more committed to his family and his duties as Voivode. We loved him and Lady Oksana, his wife. They were twenty years married as of this year, and they had a son and two daughters, one of whom was barely ten. That I survived and little Zophia did not...”
He trailed off. The Captain’s depression was like a black cloud, deepening with every passing moment. Time to change the subject. “So why did Soma send Vash Dorha away?”
“Oh, yes.” Istvan shook himself, blinking a couple of times. “Soma and Vash had an argument that ended badly. Soma decided that he was trying to incite mutiny among the ranks here. He sent him on some harebrained ‘scouting’ mission out into the deep Endlar as punishment, and Vash, being the stubborn ass he is, went along with it. Everyone here knows that to venture that far into the marsh is death. Not even the Demon’s army has been able to mass and get through. Our scouts report that the Demon seems to be preparing to cross with his army, though we don’t know by what means.”
Rin pursed her lips. “Can’t he go around?”
Istvan shook his head. “You surely saw the mountains on your way here. If he were to go around, our airships would pick him off in the valleys. There are hundreds of lakes, and fortified gates in every pass… even the Demon cannot defeat a ten-thousand foot bottleneck, especially with an army that falls apart if it spends too long in the water.”
“They don’t like water? That’s good to know.” Suri glanced at me and Karalti. “But if Vash is as good as you say, he could still be alive.”
“Not a chance. Not after six days.” Istvan shook his head. “The woods are full of hungry dinosaurs, monsters, mires, and worse. Just because the Demon hasn’t been able to get anything more than small attack squads through the swamp doesn’t mean there aren’t any undead there. Vash and the men who went with him are gone, and everyone knows it. That is why the Orphan Company deserted us. Everything that gave the men sanity, Soma has taken away. The men loathe him, and insubordination is on the rise. I tried to serve this lord faithfully and well, but I’m at my wit’s end with him. And now you’re here: a pair of foreigners full of fairy tales about Starborn, here to lay claim to my Lord’s county. You know why Ignas sent you here, don’t you?”
“Yeah.” I nodded, absently rubbing the small of Karalti’s back as I normally would have while thinking. “He sent us here to win this thing.”
“No. He sent you here in exile.” Istvan tipped the edge of his cup toward us, then drained the rest. “To get you out of the capital.”
“Nonsense. We put him on the throne,” Suri snapped.
“You are naive.” The captain barked a short, bitter laugh. “That you put him on the throne is even more reason to be rid of you.”
“Look, this is pointless.” I waved him off. “We’re here to fight a war. You’ve listed off a bunch of things that are wrong: let’s start talking solutions. We need to solve problems.”
“There is no point if the Volod will not send the troops we need to fortify us.” Istvan’s face sharpened, the muscles of his jaw tensing. “While we are under Soma’s command-”
I stood up from the table and banged my hands down, rattling cups and trash. Karalti jumped in her seat. Suri and Istvan both froze.
“Quit. Whining.” I stared him down. “Soma might be the biggest piece of shit ever shat out of a whale’s ass, but he’s not the only one with an attitude problem here. There’s millions of people in danger. The ducal seat isn’t going to reclaim itself. You want to lay down and die? I’ve got some rope in my inventory. Go hang yourself and get it over with.”
Istvan’s face darkened. He shot to his feet. “You dare-!”
“You were jumping Soma’s shit about HIS ego.” I slashed my hand toward the closed door to the room. “Well, what about yours, Arshak? I did not travel all this way to hear an officer of your standing speak this way. We go out and we recruit. We fix the morale. We repair the walls. We brew potions, heal or evacuate the wounded, and we go out into the damn swamp and drag Vash back by his asshole. There is no practical choice in war but to win, and winning starts with strong leadership. We WILL fight to win from now on. Do you understand me?”
“Yeah!” Karalti leaped up like a kid at a baseball game.
“I... you...” Drunk, flushed, and furious, Istvan tripped on his words.
“This is the time you salute and yell ‘Yes sir!’” I banged my hand down again.
“Yeah!” Karalti beat her hand on the table with delight.
Istvan paled slightly. “Yes... sir.”
“Damn straight.” My face tingled with pins and needles as I retook my seat. “You should be able to give us a quest with all the shit you need done. Assign it and we’ll get started, my dude.”
Istvan’s mouth twitched, as if he was fighting back a sneer. His expression turned sullen. “Fine. I will compile a quest. For all the good it will do... do as you please.”
He closed his eyes, and I got an alert from my HUD.
[Congratulations! You have reached Leadership 6!]
“Yikes.” Beside me, Suri winced. “Check out his profile.”
I did, and I also winced. We were at -50 amity points with Istvan, buuuut... “Okay, he hates us. But at least he’s recruitable?”
Suri snorted. “Kinda.”
After a couple of minutes, Istvan opened his eyes, rubbed them, then frowned. My HUD chimed, and Suri cocked her head, no doubt hearing the same sound. So did Karalti. “Fine. There you go. It’s long.”
[You have a new Quest Update!]
Quest Update: Unto Death
You have arrived to discover the Myszno Defense Force in shambles. The Prezyemi Line is undermanned and underpowered. Korona Fortress is plagued by low morale, limited supplies, and feuding officers. The people’s hero, Vash Dorha, has been sent on a suicide mission and is now missing. Desertion is rife, all while the Demon’s armies loom on the horizon.
The Fort Captain, Istvan Arshak, has issued a series of quests to address the problems of the defense. View each Individual Sub-Quest for more detail
s:
All the King’s Men: Find the Orphan Company and convince them to return.
Into the Swamp: Rescue Vash Dorha and the soldiers who accompanied him - or retrieve their bodies for proper burial.
Supply Train: Find out who - or what - is holding up the supply train coming from Boros to Fort Korona.
Bayou Warriors: Recruit the Yanik tribes to join the defense force.
Hold the Line: Discover sidequests in Korona to bolster the defense and gain Renown.
Special: All sub-quests are optional. The number of quests you complete will affect your main quest line.
Difficulty: Varies
Reward: Varies: See individual sub-quest descriptions
“Okay. Thanks.” I clapped my hands on my thighs and stood again, eyeing the ‘Dark Moon Pact Oathbreaker’ status that had accompanied me from Taltos. “We’ll get back to you with some good news as soon as we can.”
Istvan eyed the liquor bottle. “We shall see about that, Tuun. We shall see.”
Chapter 16
With the arrival of the reinforcements, space in Korona was suddenly at a premium. Karalti, Suri and I got a single room to share in the gatehouse that separated Korona from the Wall and the Waterfall Gates, the elevators that went down to the battlefield. Vulkan Keep had spoiled me, with its huge bathtub, spring-flushed toilet, and well-paid, well-trained servants. Our room here was a bare stone hexagon with two stone beds, shutters that whistled when the wind blew, and a fireplace full of dirt and moss. The reeds on the floor were damp, the bedding musty and worn. We got a single earthenware chamber pot to share.
“Home sweet home.” I plopped down on the edge of one of the beds and brought up my message window. “Let’s see how Rin’s doing, and then huddle up and decide on a game plan, okay?”
“Yay! Comfy bed! Comfy bed!” Honking like an excited swan, Karalti leaped onto me and flung me onto the bed. Five-and-a-half feet of polymorphed dragon began to romp around and around on hands and knees like an excited puppy, burrowing under the blankets and then bursting out of them. “No more cold! No more caves! Blankets! Pillows! And snuggling!”
“Grr…HURRK!” I tried to cheer, but then I took an armored knee to the gut and just decided to curl up in the fetal position and wait until she was done.
The door opened a second time, admitting Suri. “Woah, guys – sorry to interrupt.”
“No! You weren’t interrupting anything!” I bellowed, flailing my arms at her, as if trying to push back the storm of drama I sensed on the horizon. She burst out laughing.
“Are dragons ticklish?” Suri asked us.
“I… uhh…” Too stunned to react sensibly, I watched as Suri took a wrestler’s crouch and began to pace toward us. Karalti scrambled from the covers, bunched up on the end of the bed, and hissed. “No touchie!”
“Arrrrre they?” Suri wiggled her fingers.
“No- EEEEK!” Karalti squealed as Suri tackled her back onto the bed. Karalti was fast, but Suri was strong, and my dragon was not used to fighting in human form. I rolled off just in time for the pair of them to collide, and then watched helplessly as the larger woman pinned the smaller one and began to mercilessly tickle her as she yelped and squirmed.
“Hector! Hector! She’s killing meeee!” Karalti lashed her body from side to side, kicking ineffectively as Suri got her fingers up into her armpits. “Murder! Murderrrr!”
“Welcome to the mammalian kingdom! Time to shape up those combat skills of yours! First rule: never let someone get you in a headlock.” Suri laughed, winking over Karalti’s shoulder at me. I crossed my arms and grinned back.
“Leggo! Leggo of me!” Karalti was giggling now. She stopped kicking and tried to bite Suri’s arm. When that proved ineffectual, she lashed her head from side to side. “AAAAAAAAARRRRGHHHHHH!”
Shaking my head, I ignored the sound of smashing pottery and breaking furniture to my right, I recalled the Message Center and composed a P.M to Rin. “How’s it going over in Crafter land? Did you get an update to Unto Death? Get back to us when you can.”
By the time I’d finished that, the two of them had already settled down. Suri was wiping tears of mirth from her eyes while Karalti squatted on the floor like a gargoyle and glared at her, sullenly licking the corners of her mouth.
“Alright. All sorted? Ready to plan things out?” I looked over at them both.
“Sure.” Suri plopped back down. “Quests, right… let’s see here…”
I bought up the quest, letting it hang in front of me. “We should probably read the detailed descriptions and work out which one we want to tackle first. “Karalti, can you see the quest as well?”
“Me? Nope.” She shook her head, pawing through the reeds on the floor and sniffing deeply. “I know it when you know it.”
“Nothing like a little casual mind-reading between friends, I guess.” I opened the sub-quest window and had my HUD read them out to me.
Sub-Quest: All the King's Men
Many soldiers in Vlachia are paid mercenaries, including the Orphans: a free company of battle-hardened veteran soldiers who were committed to holding the Line against the Demon’s horrific forces - until suddenly they weren’t. The Orphans are believed to have crossed the Sarviz and headed north-east toward the city of Boros. Istvan isn’t sure what caused them to leave, but he badly wants them back.
Reward: 500 EXP, Renown +150, unlock the Orphan Company units for Mass Combat.
Sub-Quest: Into the Swamp
Unwilling to have his authority questioned, Lord Soma sent Vash Dorha, a warrior-monk of Matir, into the deep Endlar to scout the swamps and report back on any sightings of the Demon or his army. That was four days ago, and neither he or the disciples who went with him have returned.
Vash is the hero of the garrison, serving as warrior, spiritual advisor, and healer. His loss has dealt the Defense Force’s morale a mortal blow. Even closure would be better than nothing. Bring back Vash dead or alive, and you will bolster the men and either restore their hope or give them relief.
Reward: 500 EXP, +50 Renown; +100 renown if Vash returns alive. Unlock the Baru unit for Mass Combat.
Sub-Quest: Supply Train
The route between the industrial city of Boros and Fort Korona has become treacherous since the Demon invaded the province. Airships loaded with cargo cannot fly over the mountains, and ships carrying vitally important goods - explosives, munitions, food, oil and mana - is shipped to the front lines through the ancient trade route of Krivan Pass. But someone - or something - has made the Pass unusable. You must reopen the passage before it’s too late. Learn more from Lord Soma or his top weaponeer and commander of the Korona Sappers, Viktor.
Reward: 500 EXP, +150 renown.
“Damn. We really have our work cut out for us, don’t we?” Suri remarked, breaking the stream of narration. “Sounds like maybe Vash can train up more Baru for us, though. We need more healers, so-”
“Hang on. The system helps with reading, but I still take longer.” I held up a hand, and tried to read along as my virtual siren continued narrating.
Sub-Quest: Bayou Warriors
The Endlar swamp is a vast, harsh land, concentrating some of the worst monsters to be found in Myszno into one humid, hot, disease-riddled mire. And yet, despite the dangers, the Endlar is also the home of the Yanik tribe, fierce dinosaur tamers and raiders who have resisted the Vlachian conquest of Myszno for hundreds of years.
Fielding dinosaur-riding mounted archers and cavalry, powerful mages and even packs of trained Allosaurus and T-rex, these people would be a powerful force against the Demon’s armies - if they could unite with the Defense Force. The Yanik have no love for Vlachians, but they respect heroism and the Demon is as much a threat to them as anyone else. Impress their chieftain, and you might be able to win them over to your side.
Reward: EXP, +150 Renown, unlocks the Yanik Warrior units in Mass Combat.
Sidequests: Hold the Line
There is a constant battle
against entropy on the Prezyemi Line: officers behaving badly, broken equipment, rats eating supplies. Listen to gossip and pay attention to problems you see around Korona to gain sidequests that will give you EXP and Renown, special items, and more. You can find points of contact anywhere in the Fortress or along the walls.
Current Sidequests:
Istvan remarked that one of his scouts, a man named Zlaslo, has fallen ill with a seemingly incurable disease. Go to the Fort Hospital to see if you can help.
“Okay, there we go. And yeah… you’re right. This quest-line is like an entire game of its own,” I muttered, closing the window down. “What do you think, Suri? Where do you want to start?”
Suri shook her head and puffed a lock of hair out of her face. “Yeah no, I’m a bit overwhelmed, to be honest. Never had a quest this complex before.”
I had - in other games. “It’s alright: they’ll tie in together at some point. The thing we need to figure out is how to optimize the quest sequence. My vote is we leave any quests where we have to impress someone until last. We need that renown to back up our approach to the Yanik and the Orphans.”
“Yeah. So that leaves the sidequests, the swamp, and the caravans.” Suri rolled her shoulders, then closed her eyes and sighed. “The caravan one isn’t close to Korona. That’s a dragon mission, in my opinion.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Karalti stopped investigating the fireplace and turned on her, eyes blazing.
Suri smirked. “It means you can fly, you big flappy cunt.”
Karalti hissed and flew up to her feet, fists balled. “Hector! She’s calling me names!”
“You call her names all the time, Tidbit.” I replied. “I seem to recall ‘two-legs, no-wing whore’ being thrown around a couple of days ago.”
“Yeah! But to you! Not to her face!”
Archemi Online Chronicles Boxset Page 93
