Acrion- Cascade

by Scott Seier

"He bled to death from his wounds, not long ago."

  "Curse the earth where this creature was spawned, he is a demon!"

  "He used a sealing spell to ensnare a guard, and then beat him to death with a mace that was singing."

  "His magic drains the strength out of me if I get too close."

  "I saw him slay one of us and then glow with an aura of power, the more he kills the stronger he gets!"

  "I came upon him when he was praying, kneeling, defenseless! But when I struck, my spear was stopped by an unseen force and was shattered in my hands!"

  "He is making his way to the Great Seal! It's a dead end, we have him!"

  "Send for the chancellor, tell him of our valor and cunning, trapping the demon in a room that cannot be escaped. He will be pleased!"

  20 minutes later

  "Chancellor!" the guard was covered in dust and blood. He walked into the study with his shoulders back and his chest puffed out. The chancellor smiled. It had taken far too long, but this thorn had finally been removed from his side. Tension began draining from the his body. "We have cornered the demon! he is locked away in the Great Seal, we have only suffered minor casualties."

  The chancellor's stress came flooding back in the same way it had been draining a moment before, a supremely unpleasant sensation. "What?!...did you just say?" the chancellor spat, venom flecks flying from his mouth. The guard paused, confused by the chancellors reaction. Perhaps he had misunderstood. "We have cornered him...he has effectively been trapped in the Great Seal..." the chancellor closed his eyes. "So he is not dead." He said softly. The guard scratched his head, confused. Why was the chancellor not proud of his men's accomplishments? "Sir, the men believe that whatever manor of demon that he is it makes him functionally immune to our mundane weapons. We tried to use one of the priests sealing scrolls, but he took it from us before we were able to properly deploy it." The guard paused after this. The scrolls were extremely expensive and difficult to produce, but after the chancellor continued to sit with his eyes closed, the guard assumed that his boss was understanding of the struggles they had gone through, and continued with his report.

  "We have set up a perimeter around the Great Seals entrance, not near enough for the demon to gain strength from us, but close enough to respond if he tries to break the seal." The Chancellor scoffed at that. "The Seal houses one of the Arichkidars greatest enemies, there is no way to break it." The guard looked very skeptical, but didn't dispute the chancellors words, just continuing with his report. "We have been very cautious about our reinforcements, not wanting to feed the demon more than was necessary. We have lost thirteen guards, but the strategist says that given what we are up against that is well within expected parameters."

  The chancellor opened his eyes slowly. "Strategist?" he asked, his tone icy. The guard was beginning to think the chancellor wasn't in a good mood. "Yes sir, we believed it was necessary to bring one in when directing so many Arachkidar at once. To maintain maximum efficiency." The guard swallowed as the chancellor stood slowly. "And how many Arachkidar are being used in this operation?" he asked, leaning over the desk and placing his fists on the shining surface. The guard answered, confused. "It was said you ordered the perimeter guard to respond, and so it has." The chancellor closed his eyes again. "The entire perimeter guard?" he asked. "Yes, Chancellor, on your orders." The guard was dead before he hit the ground. The chancellors magic curling putrid tendrils of venom infused shadows around the room. "My orders..." the chancellor was angrier than he had ever been before. And yet that anger was secondary. It was not the prevailing emotion. That would have to be fear. The Leader demanded to be guarded at all times. If he found out... the ceiling shook as the mental command sank into the chancellors skull. too late...

  The Great Seal

  you're speaking of a permanent ritual that produces the effect of multiple spells at once? Vigil chuckled. For one, this ritual, as you saw with your steel cuffs, would need to be set into an extremely durable or compatible material, otherwise the result would be unreliable. I rubbed my wrist where it had nearly been burned to the bone a couple hours ago. A large amount of research would need to be done to even find such a material. Secondly, you would need to continuously channel large amounts of mana into the ritual to keep it running, otherwise the instant you ran out of mana the ritual would become inert, then you would need to completely remake it.

  My dreams of combining all of my spells into one super killer version were dashed with Vigil's words. Vigil sent the mental equivalent of a thoughtful chin scratch. I would suggest instead augmenting my own seal, allowing me to take the place of the jailer as your Soul Focus. At the very least I would be able to do more than one simple task at a time like this specimen. I glanced at my wrist as I walked. Vigil took a moment to plan his words. You are level 17 now, the imp would not be a powerful enough summon to aid you as effectively as I would want to. Becoming a soul focus isn't ideal either, but I have no other options for a body so I do not think I can be overly picky. I mulled his words over as I went

  The Arachkidar had seemed absolutely dead-set on luring me into this particular section of the underground prison complex. The second that I had passed through a huge arched structure they had cheered openly. It made me wonder what they were hiding down here. Vigil had warned me of the massively powerful sealing ritual we were walking into, but we both decided the potential benefits outweighed the risks. I had been able to fight the Arachkidar on even enough terms using the jailer's power to protect myself and attack them. For every one I took down the stability on the seal would increase by a solid margin, but after several close calls, and the few times that I just plain overdid it, the stability was...low.

  Fade Seal

  Soul focus

  Ritual - Circle (common)

  Status - Active

  2/25 mana

  Arachkidar Jailer

  Level: 25

  Soul Stability - 6%

  No matter how much mana I dumped into the damn thing none of its numbers would improve. Vigil believed that I had somehow damaged the shoddily constructed ritual, but regardless I was essentially helpless at the moment, so I decided to walk right into their trap. Worst case it killed me, which if I was being honest, was sort of the plan from the start. I found myself at level 17 now, instead of the intended 10 the group was shooting for originally, so it wasn't all bad. As long as a player didn't get the killing blow on me, I would maintain all my money, of which I was able to collect even more since all the guards apparently carried some light gambling coin with them at all times.

  So in I went. Since entering the huge sealing thingy there had been no guards trying to kill me, no spiders in the shadows, no nothing actually. Just intricate carvings on the floor and ceiling of the tunnel. The carvings would occasionally pulse with light like a heartbeat, but after nearly ten minutes of walking and watching I didn't notice any pattern to them. I wrote it off as a random event, but somewhere in my mind it seemed familiar.

  Instead of the torches that lit the entire structure upstairs, down here there were beautifully structured crystals that grew out of the stone walls. It made the light similar to real-life electric light and because of that, I felt much more at home in these tunnels than any of the others. If you could really ever feel at home in an unknown location surrounded by enemies and walking into an unknown trap.

  The change was extremely abrupt when I reached the end of the road. First I noticed that the tunnel was beginning to wide
n, opening to a much larger central room, but the second I had the realization I was already there. Standing at the tunnel's mouth and looking around even more confused than before, which considering my higher than average state of confusion thus far, was fairly impressive. The chamber was massive, and had huge runic carvings running along the entire domed ceiling. I admit it, I gawked. The beauty of this place contrasted with the roughly hewn tunnels of the structure above. I was only shaken out of my appreciative staring when the crystals in the room began to brighten, bringing the dimly lit areas of the circular space into sharper contrast.

  "A rescuer? Or a fellow prisoner?" The voice wasn't exceptionally powerful sounding, but had an underlying bass note that accentuated the strangely melodic overtone. I focused on the spot that the voice came from. In the center of the room was a raised platform. It stood twenty feet off the floor, large black and white granite pillars supported it, carvings of heroic figures in various stages of athletic activities crowned each pillar. It was only then that I noticed the floor was a bowl that sloped into the center. The woman on the platform was bound and looked to be straining just to keep her body upright enough to face me. The chains that held her were made of a pure black substance that seemed to eat all of the light that got near them.

  They bound her wrists and ankles, anchored not into the platform, but below, at the very center of the bowl shaped floor. There seemed to be a hole in the middle in which the chains continued down into the depths of for god knows how far. Each chain was draped over a different side of the many-sided platform so that it seemed like it was originally designed for her to be held down flat on her back as opposed to kneeling as she was now.

  "Define rescuer. I'm certainly willing to help, but lack any knowledge of the situation, so I really doubt that I could really be all that helpful. I came down here to die to be honest." I said this plainly, not seeing any reason to lie to the poor...girl? Woman? Lady? She seemed refined in her bearing, but her face was no older than mid twenties.

  I wondered, as I glanced around the massive prison cell, about what this girl did to the Arachkidar to deserve such an imprisonment. I felt the need to shake her hand suddenly and give her an award. She must have really screwed those bastards over. My hero!

  She sighed and sagged, still kneeling, but now sitting back on her legs instead of straight as a board upright, her arms being pulled away from her body. "My definition of a rescuer is someone who could remove these shackles. If you are not one such person I suggest you do not address me for the next few years at the very least." She said this without raising her head, speaking to the floor of her platform, a curtain of thick red hair blocking her face from view.

  She wore what looked like a strange kind of uniform, but it'd seen better days. A black jacket hung open revealing a vest made of shining metal fibers. Under the vest she wore a bright blue shirt. The jacket was torn in places and had burn marks all over it, although the girl herself looked completely unharmed, save for the weight of the chains and the general air of demoralization that was flooding off of her.

  I sent toVigil while I walked to the center of the room. Don't fall down the hole. I snorted. As I got closer to the middle, I inspected the girl.

  Saoirse

  Level: ???

  Health: ????/????

  Well that gave me just an overwhelming amount of information now didn't it... Ignoring the sulking lady for a second I peered over the edge of the hole that the black chains ran into. No bottom in sight. Tapping my chin I looked at the pillars.

  You think this is your best course of action? <...> I was breathing too hard to reply. I heaved myself over the edge of the platform with a truly herculean effort reminiscent of one of the carvings that I used as a foot hold on the way up. I laid on my back huffing and puffing, my stamina dangerously low. I had recently boosted my spirit in an attempt to charge the jailers soul a little faster, but it hadn't worked out as well as I had hoped and landed me with a nasty stamina debuff that made me burn through the crucial resource twice as fast. This visible debuff stacked with the seemingly invisibly ones that had been set on me after the boosts I had performed in my cell to escape. The result? I had the stamina of a ninety year old that was currently having a heart attack.

  "Some hero." I heard the red head mutter sarcastically. "I'll".. Huff huff... "let that one"...huff. "Slide"... I rolled over and took stock of the situation after my stam stabilized slightly and let me move without getting light headed. The cuffs hadn't even bruised her arms or legs even though they looked like they weighed hundreds of pounds. She must be made of sturdier stuff than me, cause even with no chains attached the cuff I still wore would occasionally knock a health point off me and leave a tender spot.

  "If you intend to kill me I recommend finding a better weapon than your fists." She said skeptically.

  I tilted my head, confused momentarily. Yeah...I hadn't thought this one through. Restrained lady tells me to leave her alone, but I just creeper my way on up. "No, I'm trying to see if I can help. Didn't mean to worry you." I said, waving off her comment. I asked Vigil. Mentally indicating the weird black chains.

  "I have no worry regarding death, it would be a mercy, I just doubt your ability to carry out the task, otherwise I would have asked you to perform it immediately."

  No. My best guess would be it is a byproduct of whatever ritual they used to set off a seal of this magnitude. Either that, or it is part of the leverage that is being used to keep her restrained. To think this woman would warrant such power...

  "Okay wait."

  The girl's echoing voice hit my physical ear at the same time Vigil's words hit my mental ones.

  "I got distracted by saoirse's..saourshee? Soursay?"

  "It is pronounced as seer sha..." She said emphasizing the two syllables, but still speaking in a slight accent that made it sound like sersha.

  "Thanks, yeah I was distracted by Saoirse's readiness to die so I didn't hear what you were saying, start over please." Saoirse looked at me like I had three heads. "You pronounced it correctly that ti.." I held up a finger, cutting off her sentence. "Wasn't talking to you." I said tapping my temple in explanation. I was saying that this girl must be immensely powerful to require such an extensive ritual to bind her. And that the chains are most likely made of a substance that they used to balance the scales of the sealing. One of those extremely durable, or extremely compatible components that we were discussing earlier. Whatever it is, it is far beyond our ability to destroy.

  I nodded at the explanation. Fifty percent of it outside my general understanding of sealing spells, but better than the ninety percent it would have been before Vigil taught me a few things in that prison cell. I looked at the chains thoughtfully. I wouldn't think they would spontaneously bind you, if that is what you were thinking. I reached over and grabbed the chains that were connected to her wrist, and pulled...

  Not that anyone would have noticed...they didn't even budge. Not even a little bit of a jangle! Jeez, this girl was beyond strong to even be upright with this much weight hanging on her. Even though Acrion had ended the equality of the sexes debate upon its launch, due to all players having the same strength, agility, and other attributes upon entering regardless of gender, I still had the impulse to try and help a girl in need. It just so happens that this girl could probably bench-press a school bus without trying.

  Saoirse blinked at my effort, as if surprised I had even tried such a mundane way of breaking the bindings, but didn't say anything. I stepped back and plopped onto the floor, cross legged. Well, the "floor". I was still on a platform sitting twenty feet up in the air. Resting my cuffed left arm on my knee and tapping out a beat on the metal surface I focused on the problem a
t hand and started weighing my tools against it.

  "So." Saoirse flinched at my sudden words. It had been nearly ten minutes since I had last spoken and she had sunken back into her sad-times mode, apparently forgetting that I was sitting right in front of her. "I have an idea on how to get you out of here." The look on her face was one crossed with ambivalence and hope. "You do?" You do? I laughed. "You know, I'm not as stupid as most people tend to assume I am. I'm thinking I can get you out, but I want to know your story before I pull the trigger on anything. I don't want to be responsible for releasing a evil overlord or something. Saoirse nodded seriously as if my statement actually made sense. Maybe wherever she came from there were a lot of bound up evil masterminds that needed to not be set free.

  You know, you should at least run your idea past me, also I don't think it's a good idea to leverage the hope of escape to simply satiate your rampant curiosity. If that's what you are playing at. Vigil sent a wave of his own mixed emotions over our link. I mentally grumbled at the former imp. Well, to be honest... yes, if it pertains to a school of magic that you're unfamiliar with.

  Our bickering was interrupted when the dark chains scraped against the platform as Saoirse straightened her back to look at me properly. "I suspect that you are tricking me, but even if you are, I am interested enough to see what you think you can gain from this that I will answer your question." She took a deep breath, the chains that I now believed to weigh in the thousands of pounds rather than the hundreds, rose and fell with her lung's movement. A testament to her monstrous strength. You got lucky.