“Maybe next time you can tag along and fix the problem yourself,” Hawke said as they called their winged allies and flew to Jake’s room.
“Sorry. I should have been there,” the older Eternal said after they arrived.
Hawke leaned on the balcony. It was late afternoon in Akila, but the city was alive with activity. Refugees driving wagons or carrying their possessions on their backs filled the streets, except for a number of broad avenues reserved for military traffic. Those were busy as well. Cohorts of the Ninth Legion were moving out to take positions along the wards protecting the city. Wards that did not reach far enough to defend much of the countryside.
“Coffee?” Jake asked Hawke, a steaming cup in his hand.
“I know a bunch of people in my Guild that would kill for that cup but I never acquired the taste.”
“I’ll make sure to give you a couple of bean bags for your friends. It’s usually imported from the far end of the Dragonback Mountains, but I have a small garden that keeps me supplied.”
“Appreciated.”
They looked out the balcony in silence for a few moments. Hawke had a million things he needed to attend to, so those few moments were all the break time he was going to get. It had been six days since the Undying Land had risen, and the world had already changed.
All the lands Hawke had visited, and several he’d only heard of, were no longer in the Common Realm. The Arbiters hadn’t just interdicted the region; as the High Fae had expected, they had moved it somewhere else. He didn’t know where. The sky looked the same during the day, but at night there were no stars to be seen. Just the moon and the sun. It was as if they were in a universe with one solar system comprised of a single planet. Beyond the city of Alpinia to the south, Dun-Takah to the West, and the northern coast, there were only intractable forests inhabited by level twenty-five and higher monsters. To the East, of course, lay the Undying Land. The Undead fog had filled hundreds of square miles and was slowly rolling towards Imperial lands. The Legion fortress overlooking the former Labyrinth had been abandoned, along with all the farmlands in the area; the fog had claimed them all.
“After I’m done here, I’ll be heading down to the gate to help with the next wagon train,” he said.
That would include another eight hundred farmers, artisans, laborers and about three times their number in families and dependents. Akila was glad to get rid of the extra mouths to feed, and was providing barely enough food to see them to Orom. Hawke couldn’t blame them. Akila was the first domino in the way of the Undying Land. It would soon be under siege.
“When the time comes, I’ll help defend Akila,” he added.
“And most of us will appreciate it.”
“So, are you going to tell me why you wanted to speak to me in private?”
“Yes, of course. I wanted to give you this.”
Jake produced a long cylindrical object out of his inventory. It was made of some red metal that gleamed with some kind of inner light.
“Thanks, but you already gave me a wedding present.”
“This is more of a life saver present.”
“What is it?”
“It’s the key to the Scarlet Fang. The tower of Ardentus the Bright.”
It took Hawke a moment to remember the conversation he’d had in this very room, a few weeks ago. The red tower, the tallest structure in Akila.
“You were lying about the key being lost.”
“It didn’t seem important at the time. We were all busy, remember? I only remembered I had the damn thing when you asked about the tower.”
“So why give this to me now? Do I look like I have time for more crap?”
“I found the key shortly after I returned to Akila. That was the first time I used it, and I barely escaped with my life. The second time was a few days ago, not too long after we spoke about it, as a matter of fact. I hadn’t thought about that place in decades, but it occurred to me that there might be something useful there. And I was worried about the Malleus Mallum. Not half as worried as I should have been, clearly, but worried enough to try again. I was more experienced, had some new trinkets. I tried and I failed miserably.”
“And you think I can do better?”
“I know it for a fact. The second time, I met a Watcher at the Door. It said only one who bore a Maker’s Mark would be allowed to pass.”
“Sounds great, but I don’t think a dungeon crawl is what I need right now. Kinda have a whole Domain to prepare for a war against level thirty-plus monsters.”
“Nobody knows what is inside the Scarlet Fang, but it is known to be connected to several Higher Realms. I believe you may find weapons we may need.”
Hawke put the key in his inventory. “As soon as I have a free day, I’ll come take a look.”
“Don’t wait too long.” Jake paused for a few seconds. “I don’t think Akila will hold.”
“You’d better be wrong. If you go down, we all go down.”
“In many ways, your valley is better suited to stand a siege.”
“I doubt it. I’m going to be pumping up the Domain as much as I can, and the extra population will help a lot, but at best I’m going to have ten, fifteen thousand people in the valley, maybe twice as much if I convince every Arachnoid in the mountains and Woodling in the Foothills to join the Sunset. That’s like half the population of Akila, and we don’t have massive city walls and all your wards and defenses. Or a Legion. I have a couple of companies of guards and a Guild with an average level of twelve. Maybe thirteen since the last skirmishes with the Court of Thorns.”
“Your little valley has more places of power than any other area within five hundred miles, maybe more. Don’t sell yourself short. Akila has grown too soft and complacent. Note that the city ended up sending outsiders to solve its problems.”
“So get back to the Prefect and start lighting fires under their asses. I’ll check the Scarlet Fang as soon as I can, but only if you stop the defeatist talk, okay?”
“All right, I will.”
“After I get those refugees situated and do that diplomatic visit to Dun-Takah. Two, three days.”
“I have a bad feeling, that’s all.”
Hawke wanted to tell the Archmage that things were going to be all right, but he would have been lying. He had a bad a feeling about all of this as well.
“They are going to have a hell of a fight in their hands,” he finally said.
Epilogue
Arbiter Sexaginta-Novem didn’t like meetings. She particularly didn’t like meetings that likely involved her betrayal of the Makers. That sort of thing tended to end very badly for the betrayer.
She attended it anyway. She couldn’t do anything else. Mortals and even gods feared and envied Arbiters, but the truth was that they had less personal freedom than the most pathetic galley slave in the Pitiless Archipelago. A galley slave could at least think of disobeying a direct order. Sexaginta-Novem didn’t have that luxury. Her betrayal had involved a degree of subtlety and double- and even triple-think that would have driven a human insane in short order. Her post-Singularity mind could handle it, but only just. And if her superiors ordered her to report to her own execution, she would do it without a moment’s hesitation. Her agency was at best contingent on her masters’ wishes. One of the many reasons she hated them.
“There you are,” Vice – Arbiter Vicesimo to his underlings – said as her consciousness manifested in the meeting room.
Arbiter Nonaginta was there as well, but that was it. Sexaginta-Novem relaxed minutely. If she were to be tried, convicted, and executed, more than two of her coworkers would have been involved. Destroying an Arbiter took a lot of work, and usually there was a ton of volunteers lining up for the pleasurable privilege of flaying alive one of their own. Not that actual flaying was involved. The deconstruction process was far more agonizing than the mere removal of skin from a living body.
No, her cover was still safe. The fools were giving her a new assignment, perhaps
one she could use for her benefit.
“You have been reassigned,” Vice said, getting down to business without any preamble or pleasantries. The guy was a dick. Had been one even back when he was human.
“I live to obey the Makers,” Sexaginta said without bothering to hide the sarcasm in her voice. All Arbiters made fun of their situation. As long as they didn’t openly disrespect their betters, they were allowed to.
“Good. We’ve got a mess in our hands. Not surprisingly, it involves some of the new batch.”
“I’m not surprised, other than by the fact it happened so quickly. We are only eight months in since the Great Eternal Infusion happened. Only a handful of them have made it past level thirty-five.”
“We’ve got a troublemaker in this zone, but he’s actually trying to help. And he can do more about the problem than we can, which makes things worse.”
Sex (she called herself by the nickname, but the Makers help anybody else who did) stayed quiet, waiting for more information.
“We had to excise the better part of an entire continent out of the Common Realms,” Vice explained. “We need to keep a close eye on their new location to ensure a smooth transition. We’ve got about two and a half million souls in the area of effect. Ideally, we would like most of then to live long enough to reproduce and contribute to our little ecosystem.”
“Where are they now?”
“We moved them to the Feral Lands. Southern Hemisphere, onto the smallest continent. There was nothing but wilderness over there, other than a few coastal kingdoms that are about to discover they now have a whole lot of new neighbors.”
“Fun place,” Nonaginta said. “Full of Kaiju, demigods, and barbarian cultures, lots of dungeons and labyrinths sprouting like mushrooms, and few civilizations bigger than city-states. Direct links to Asgard, Olympus, and Xibalba, with the inevitable invasions involved. Not exactly a vacation spot.”
“None of the Higher Realms are safe for a bunch of basic scrubs. The Feral Lands are very rich in Life energy, and we wanted to contain a huge Chaos-Undeath outbreak. One engineered by some of our lords and masters.”
“Oh, dear,” Sex said. In the compartment in her mind where she allowed herself to be her true self, she realized that the mad scheme cooked up by Outcast and his Court of Thorns butt buddies had actually worked. And if their Maker patrons had become openly involved… well, anything was possible. Maybe even the final reckoning she had been preparing for.
“No direct intervention from the Makers, worse luck,” Vice went on. “So we have our hands tied. But we are going to be providing assistance to the locals. Hopefully they can beat back the outbreak and collect some scalps for us.”
“If they don’t,” Nona said, “they are going to have to change the name of that Realm to the Dead Lands.”
“And the contamination will spread. Xibalba will fall for sure. And if we lose Olympus and Asgard, we will have a full-on apocalypse event in our hands.”
“Again,” Nona said. “Why are we letting these primitive screwheads accumulate the power to destroy themselves?”
Vice shrugged. “Best way to prepare new recruits for what’s coming to them. Or so I’m told.”
“Ours not to reason why, and all that good Tennyson crap,” Sex jumped in, playing at being a good loyal Arbiter. “Ours is to do and kill any idiot who breaks the rules.”
“Pretty much. Nona, you will be handing out special gifts to the friendlies, including that rat bastard, Hawke. Seed the transplanted area with some goodies. Maybe see if any of the gods are up to helping out their people. Relax the rules on indirect intervention, within reason.”
“Where do you want me?” Sex asked.
“You get to play bad cop. Observe the outbreak. We may have a renegade Arbiter involved. Maybe even the one we don’t mention anymore. If you see any signs of that, bring the evidence to me. Feel free to stomp any natives that misbehave while you’re at it.”
This could be a trap. Sex didn’t believe in coincidences anymore, and sending a traitor to go off looking for other traitors seemed too damned convenient. But she couldn’t pass up the chance even if she had a choice.
“Sounds good,” she said out loud. “I just love to be bad.”
The story will continue in Siege, Book Six of the Eternal Journey.
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Glossary of Game Terms
Adds: Enemy reinforcements that a Boss can call upon when facing a party.
Aggro: Also known as ‘hate’ or ‘threat.’ In games, the amount of attention a player attracts from computer-generated enemies. Player characters who attract (‘draw’) the most aggro will be attacked first.
AOE: Short for ‘area of effect.’ A spell or ability that harms or otherwise affects all targets (or sometimes, only designated enemies) in an area (typically a circle with a fixed radius), as opposed to those that only affect a single target.
Boss: A powerful enemy that must be overcome to advance on a quest or a dungeon crawl. Bosses are tougher than regular NPCs, have special abilities and often can call additional monsters to come to their aid.
Casual: A player who doesn’t devote a great deal of time and energy in a game, playing it occasionally and not putting in the effort and research necessary to progress to the upper limits of the game. They are usually held in contempt by more dedicated gamers.
Class: A profession or specialty for characters in roleplaying games. Classes have specific abilities, strengths, and weaknesses. In most games, selecting a Class defines someone’s Player Character, determining what spells, skills, and equipment they can wield.
DOT: Short for Damage over Time. A spell or ability that inflicts damage spread over time, doing a ‘tick’ of damage every few moments.
DPS: Short for Damage Per Second. The average amount of damage (most games express this numerically) that a character can generate in a second. Also used to refer to characters who focus on inflicting damage, usually at the expense of things like survivability.
Endgame: In MMORPG, the settings and challenges the game offers to player characters that have reached the maximum level allowed by the setting. Endgame often revolves around the accumulation of high-end weapons and other gear, progress in sub-systems that work like levels but tend to be more specialized, or completing certain difficult tasks.
Experience: An in-game reward for performing certain tasks, such as completing Quests, defeating characters in combat, making discoveries, or using skills in the course of a game. Once enough experience is accumulated, the character will gain a new level (see below).
Level: A measure of the power and experience of a character in a roleplaying game. In most games, player characters start at first level and gain new levels by accumulating Experience. Each additional level grants new spells, abilities, and other bonuses.
HOT: Short for Heal over Time. A healing spell or effect that keeps healing the target over a period of time, applying healing ‘ticks’ every few moments until the effect expires.
MMORPG: Massive Multi-User Online Roleplaying Game. A game that requires and online connection and allows multiple players to interact with each other and the game’s shared environment. Roleplaying games focus on a single character under each player’s control.
Mob: Short for ‘mobile.’ Term for wandering (usually hostile) NPCs in a game, also applied to monsters in general.
Noob (n00b, newb): Newbie. A beginner player.
NPC: Non-player character. A computer-controlled character in a game setting, capable only of whatever actions or responses it is programmed to produce.
Party: A team of player characters that join forces t
o overcome bigger challenges.
PC: Player Character. In most roleplaying games, each player is in control over one character and uses it to interact with the game world and other Player and Non-player characters.
Pull: Getting the attention of a mob, usually with a ranged attack or spell, without alerting any other nearby targets. Tactic meant to whittle down a group of enemies that is too large to take on at once.
PVE: Player-versus-environment. Game situations where PCs are in conflict with computer-generated characters or situations rather than with each other.
PVP: Player-versus-player. Combat and conflict involving player characters. Some games restrict player-versus-player fights to certain areas of the game world, or require the consent of all players involved to take effect.
Raid: A large-scale event where multiple players (sometimes dozens of them) join forces to confront very dangerous enemies. Raids typically involve formidable Bosses and reward participants with some of the best prizes in a game.
Respawning: Many games allow player characters that are ‘killed’ to return to the game (respawning). The process may take the revived characters to a ‘respawning point’ or bring him back to the place where they died.
Spawn Camping: A generally disliked practice in some PVP games where enemy players go to a respawning point and kill newly-resurrected PCs as soon as they respawn.
Tank: A character that focuses on survivability through heavy armor, defensive magic, or class abilities, as well as in drawing aggro/hate from computer-generated enemies. Usually does less damage or is less effective for other purposes.
Tanking: Safeguarding other player characters by drawing aggro, resulting in most enemies attacking the ‘tank’ while ignoring more fragile characters.
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Court of Thorns: A LitRPG Story Page 29
