by J D Astra
“Eisen, we don’t have time for this,” Otto chastised him, and the willowy Dawn Elf waved him off.
“We have time for a little extra protection on the streets. It will take me five minutes.”
Otto rolled his eyes and mumbled, “That’s what you said ten minutes ago.”
“Go keep yourselves occupied.” Eisen shooed at us. “Search through my wares in the chest in the other room. There should be some nice necklaces or rings with guards against illusions and suggestions. Take whatever suits your fancy, and we’ll call it an even five gold from each.”
I turned to leave with the others and Eisen pointed to me as he said, “Not you, come here.” He took a seat and motioned for me to flip over the table for him. I grabbed the smaller overturned end table and brought it to him. He looked at it disapprovingly, but set to work on the ring with his metal pen.
He was quiet as he scraped away little bits of the inside of my ring, so I figured I’d leave him to the work. I’d taken a single step back when he took a deep breath and said, “You know, Abby, for being the greatest Sorceress in all of Eldgard, your jewelry is quite unimpressive.”
I sucked my teeth, annoyed. I’d only interacted with Eisen once before, but I was thinking this was his best attempt at making conversation. I pulled up a chair next to him. “Well, it’s a work in progress.”
He nodded. “Yes, we can always be better.” He blew gently on the spot he’d been marking, then pulled a monocle from his pocket and inspected the ring through it. “No, not quite.” He put the glass aside and went back to work.
“How did you meet Naitee?” He started scratching away at another spot on the outside of the band.
I shrugged. “Otto took me to her.”
He looked up from his work, his eyebrow quirked. “That’s it? That’s the whole story?”
“Forgive me, Eisen, but the last time I was here you didn’t seem interested in conversation.” I crossed my arms.
He returned his focus to the ring without another word.
I sucked in a breath and went into more detail. “When I got here I was north of Harrowick, just outside a town called Havasil. Otto was fighting some Goblins, and I rescued him, then he walked me to town. The next day he took me to Naitee, and I’ve been apprenticing with her since.”
He hummed. “You’re a terrible storyteller.”
I clenched my teeth. “I blew up her house, killed a Hoardling Drake, then brought her four drake eggs and sold myself to her for a copy of an ultra-rare scroll.”
“All interesting things that you told to me terribly.” He grabbed his monocle and inspected the ring again. “Yes, there we go. One more.”
“Eisen?” I asked, and he hummed, quite unperturbed by my prompting. “When we first got here, there were wards on the floor that had been detonated, and the one on your front door.”
“And? Not everything works without issue.” He blew on the spot he’d been working and inspected it.
“Eisen, how long have they been trying to get you?”
He sucked his bottom lip, then looked to me with a devious wink. “You’re smarter than you look.”
My brow shot up, but I decided to take it as a compliment. He returned to work and I watched, waiting for him to speak, as he made the tiniest scrapes with precision movements.
“I arrived here six months ago from New Viridia. I’d been working with the rebel faction there, setting up their portals and protection wards. It’s not uncommon for me to be harassed—I create some of the strongest jewelry modifications in Eldgard—but this was uncommon. Within days of my work with the rebel faction here, I was having break-ins, but nothing stolen. I set to work on some protection wards.
“When the Bindings Book was stolen three days ago, the break-in attempts happened with more significant frequency and effort.” He paused, opening his eyes wide and nodding as if remembering a particularly bad moment. “They never got in for long, until I let Patrick through.”
He held up the ring and it radiated a soft blue glow. The runic marks shimmered a neon azure, flashing once, twice, and then they disappeared.
“Here.” He handed me the simple band and I accepted. I turned it over in my hand, trying to find any sign of his work. It looked exactly as it had before I gave it to him.
“Do you know what they wanted, or who specifically they were?” I asked, and he sat back, crossing his arms.
“The only person I knew was Patrick. I have to assume this whole time they’ve been after me, and before, perhaps the Bindings Book in progress.”
I chewed my cheek. Would Patrick have been trying to stop Eisen? Were they trying to get access to the portals in secret? There were so many things he could’ve been after, and so many different angles he could be working now. What was he truly after?
“Well...” Eisen looked at me with annoyance, and I snapped from my thoughtful trance. “Put it on.” He gestured to the band in my grasp.
I slipped the ring on my finger, feeling a prickle of power shoot up my arm to my chest as I did. I opened my character sheet and inspected the item.
<<<>>>
Keensight Ring of Spirit
Type: Jewelry
Class: Rare
Base Defense: N/A
Primary Effects:
+20 to Spirit
+2 to Constitution
+3 to Vitality
2 Charges: Activate the ability Keensight to detect Illusion Magic. Duration, 10 seconds. Cooldown, 10 minutes. Distance, 10 meters from caster. Cost, 30 Spirit.
○ When no charges remain, this effect will disappear from the item.
<<<>>>
Damn. He did that in five minutes. Scriveners were scarily powerful.
“She didn’t explode, we’re ready to go!” Eisen yelled, and I snapped my menu shut.
“I could’ve exploded?”
He stood and brushed off his perfectly clean robes. “Yes, well, there’s always a risk, but it’s very low for me. My success rates are near perfect.”
My brow pinched. “A little warning next time would be good.”
“There won’t be a next time, Abby. Enjoy your beautiful, one-of-a-kind ring, and give my regards to my little sister.” He grabbed a bag from the disheveled floor and walked from the room without another word.
“Alright then.” I slapped my hands on my legs and stood from the chair. Otto and Renzik were waiting with Eisen in the dark front room. Both were much more glamorous than they’d been before, Renzik sporting a ring on almost every finger, except his bow fingers, and Otto with a glitzy new necklace. I grabbed fifteen gold from my inventory, which really wasn’t too bad for all we were making off with, and passed it to Eisen.
He made a sour face, and rejected it. “I don’t want to be jingling all around town. Give it to me later.”
I shrugged and put it away. “Are we ready to go then? We have a book primed for portal making?” Eisen shook his bag at me with a sarcastic smile. “Okay, let’s get down to business.”
Dark Alley Activity
IT WAS NEARLY 10 PM game time, and streets of the business district were still alive with activity. It was primarily taverns that were still kicking, but a few shops had lights in the windows and signs that read “Please come in.” There were interesting establishments I had not seen in Harrowick, like “Spirit Healers” and “Matchmakers.” I was curious if the latter was what I thought it was, but not curious enough to venture inside. Plus, we had a mission at hand.
We kept the chatter light and friendly, maintaining the pretense that we were just four regular citizens on our way to get a little drunk after a hard day’s work. The business district skirted the boundary line of the Grand Archive to the east and northeast, the Ancient’s Grove to the west, and the war district at the southeast corner.
Though the quarry also ran most the length of the archive’s northwestern border, Eisen said it would be a nightmare trying to get in and out of it, or do the ward work without being noticed. Other than the obv
ious name, the war district was a dangerous no-go because it was patrolled nightly by The Broken, which were enslaved Risi death squads.
Otto told me, with some brevity, that after the Risi home city of Glome Corrie fell to the Imperials, they began stealing Risi babies from their mothers, training them to be weapons of pure destruction. The Broken was the sympathetic name for these brainwashed, exploited Risi. Their Imperial name was Vastatores Vitae.
It was obvious that the ruling faction in Alaunhylles knew they had a rebel problem, but the city was so cookie-perfect, most of the citizens just put their blinders on. I’d discovered that every citizen in Alaunhylles held down some form of work. Every child attended school, the elderly were looked after, and the sick were supported. Alaunhylles was also very rigid in its rules, and it wasn’t just politeness in public. Stuff like “Wed by the age of forty.” Dawn Elves had fairly long lives, so forty wasn’t that old. Or how about “Produce, foster, or adopt at least one child every sixty years.” I was sure there were more interesting laws I hadn’t yet heard of.
We’d passed several Request Boards on our way through the district, all with the same wanted posters, including mine. There were low-key Hvitalfar patrols dressed in semi-casual garb on nearly every street. Eisen said they were Peacekeepers of sorts. They watched for rowdy citizens, rudeness, brawling, and other bad behavior that needed correcting. Otto truly wasn’t joking when he said any of those normal Harrowick things were a serious offense.
Renzik scooted up close to Eisen and whispered, “How much farther?”
“As far as it is to the kind of quiet I need,” Eisen said, a smile on his face but annoyance in his tone. “If Otto wasn’t attracting every gaze, it would be a lot easier to slip out of sight.”
“Well, we’re in a predicament, because it’s not so easy for us to port out of here now,” Otto said as he shot a stern look to Eisen.
“This was your plan, not mine.” Eisen shrugged, his smile a perfect white.
Otto was drawing some attention, but the real problem was every street was too populated. We needed to make a scene in a building, give Eisen a chance to find a good spot to hide in the alleys and get to work.
“New plan,” I said as I put my arms around Renzik and Eisen, much to his disgust. “Otto and I are going to go in one of these bars and draw a bunch of people in off the streets, draw in the Peacekeepers, while you and Renzik find a place for the portal.”
“Bars?” Renzik asked. He was always the one with the questions.
“Tavern, whatever, it’s what we called them back in my world. What do you think, will it work?”
Eisen carefully removed himself from under my arm, his smile still bright. “It’s not the worst idea, other than how do you plan on getting out of trouble once you’re in it?”
“Portal scroll out and change our disguise to the Historian robes. We’ll be fine. You worry about getting that portal set up. If it’s not active when Otto and I are leaving the archive, likely at speed and with tails, we’ll be in serious trouble.”
“Good thing I had the foresight to set up the first portal in the book, then.” Eisen moved off to the side of the street and leaned against a wall casually. He opened his side satchel and removed an old looking tome. “Well, don’t stare at me, keep talking!” he hissed as he pulled the small hooked pen from his robe pocket.
“The price of, uh, mackerel, is getting quite high, isn’t it?” I had no idea if mackerel were in season, how much it cost, or if the waters surrounding Alaunhylles even had mackerel.
“Yes,” Renzik said with an exaggerated nod. “It seems the season is no longer right for it.”
Otto put a hand to his chin. “I don’t think it’s unreasonable. Now, the price of tuna, that is distasteful.” It was a disastrous conversation, and Eisen laughed all the while he prepared the new ward.
The open pages of the book were decorated with elegant looking script surrounding a rune-etched circle. He pricked his finger and continued inscribing the small runic marks on the page. The symbols glowed a hot pink, and Otto moved to obscure Eisen from view.
“And what about sardines? Such a small amount of meat for so much coin.” Renzik was keeping up the price of fish conversation, but his mind was everywhere else. His eyes covertly scanned the crowds around us, and I kept my own on the Peacekeepers.
“Give me your hand,” Eisen whispered, and I complied. He stabbed the hooked end of the pen into my finger, dabbed in the blood like a quill to ink, and began inscribing another symbol. He wiped the tool free and then motioned to Renzik for the same.
He repeated the process with Otto too, then closed the book gently and returned it to the satchel. He sighed with relief. “There, go make your scene so we can get this done.”
I had an epiphany of respect for him. Eisen was risking his life for this, for the rebellion and us. He was a very powerful Scrivener who could be selling wares for fistfuls of gold, but he chose to give that up and fight oppression. His life outside may very well be over now that Patrick was hunting him, and that was on us. I mean, eventually Patrick would’ve sunk the rebellion from the inside, likely by capturing Eisen anyway, but we’d never know if things could’ve gone differently without us here, without me challenging him.
“Why aren’t you leaving yet?” Eisen waved the back of his hand at me in a shooing motion.
I put my hand on Renzik’s shoulder. “If anything happens, ignore Arcona and do what’s right. I’ve got your back.”
He tilted his head like a confused puppy. “Got my back?”
“I support your choices.” I smiled to him.
He bowed his head, closing his eyes and putting his hand over his heart as the [Companion Alert! Favor Increase] pop-up told me all I needed to know. If they got in trouble and he let Eisen live, Otto and I would just have to double-time our asses to wherever he was and rescue him. But, it was going to be fine. No one was going to get in any trouble—except me and Otto.
I smacked him on the arm playfully. “Alright, Big Green, let’s go cause a distraction.”
“Whatever you say, Little Red,” he grumbled sarcastically.
I looked around the busy street, taking note of the Peacekeeper eyes that had locked onto us. I put my Initiate’s Robe hood up and walked toward a tavern. I made several close passes by other pedestrians, bumping into some of them, then apologizing profusely. Otto stuck behind me for once, and I chuckled at the irony, though Abby-pilot was not nearly as giggleworthy as Otto-pilot.
I stumbled up the white stone steps and bounced my way to the door, sparing a sideways glance to ensure there was no one moving in on Renzik and Eisen. The Peacekeepers were definitely on our trail; good.
Music, not unlike something from an L.A. nightclub, drowned out all other thoughts as I opened the door to the tavern. Oh. Holy. Shit. Hvitalfar knew how to get down! I pulled the hood down as I scanned the room.
The multilayered interior was much like the style of a ravers dance club, with a large open floor in the center and an elevated balcony looking down on the action from above. Everyone, not just designated dancers, was gathered in the open area.
Crystals of blue, topaz, and red hung from the ceiling by thin silver chains. Their interiors had been carved away to make space for a flame, turning the crystals into reverse disco balls. The prisms of color twinkled across the walls and floor, giving the place an absolutely stunning atmosphere.
The music was not unlike the synthwave garbage that the kids used to listen to twenty years ago, but it was made much more bearable by its organic nature. There were two sets of heavy drums sitting in the far left corner under the balcony, and to the far right was a trio of harp-like instruments, flanked by a bass and a flute, all operated by scantily clad Dawn Elf women.
The dance floor was alive with fluid movement; twisting, bending, and melting was the only way to describe it. They were all interacting with one another, like the music had them in some kind of trance—
“Abby, let’s get
a drink.” Otto nudged me from behind and I shot a glance over my shoulder, catching the eyes of the Peacekeepers who’d followed us in.
“No sippy-cup size for me this time!” I pointed my finger at Otto, recalling he’d said pointing was rude and shouldn’t be done. We walked to the tall bar and Otto pulled out a pair of stools at the glass counter. I guess it was safe to have glass counters and sparkly ruby chandeliers because there was no drunken disorderly behavior allowed, and definitely no brawling.
Otto held up two fingers and the short, black-haired bartender nodded. I pumped my extra robe, feeling the humidity of the many dancing bodies in the room. Fortunately, it didn’t smell like an L.A. nightclub, and there weren’t any skinny models puking in the corner.
The plan was still coming together in my head, but I’d start by getting a lot of attention. Then, I’d make a scene. I needed to get people in off the streets, or I needed to clear out the streets. How in the hell would I do that without aggroing the entire district?
The garnet-eyed bartender dropped the drinks in front of us and I gulped. The liquid in the fancy glass cups was bright blue, and I flashed back to college days of drinking blue curaçao... mixed with vodka. It was called a blue lagoon, and damn were they deadly.
“What’s wrong?” The woman crossed her arms.
I smiled. “Nothing! I used to have something that looked just like this back home.” I picked up the glass and took a whiff. Sure as shit, it smelled just like a blue lagoon. Someone on the dev team must’ve gone to the same ragers as me. “Bottoms up!” I clinked my glass against Otto’s then threw back the drink.
It burned.
All.
The way.
Down.
“Whew!” I exhaled hard through my mouth and slammed the glass down. When I opened my eyes, the bartender looked absolutely aghast. Her mouth hung open and her hands reached halfway out to me, but stopped, frozen in shock.
“What?” I blinked a few times and looked to Otto. He’d taken a tiny sip from his beverage.
