At the end of Dyre’s statement, I noticed that the eyes of each and every single one of the prisoners suddenly glazed over, no doubt reading a notification that had appeared in their vision. There was a long moment of silence as the justicar waited for the adventurers to read the details of their incarceration, many of their faces paling or growing angry. Having already been told by Dyre what the terms were, I found myself savoring the expressions I saw before me as I recalled the basic highlights of what it meant to be a captive.
Confinement to prison grounds, no private messaging, no forming groups, no violence, I said silently, watching the prisoners’ eyes moving from side to side as they continued to read. And most importantly…impoundment of all equipment and inventory.
“Should you find yourself unable to abide by the terms that have been set before you, or if the burdens of this war have become too great and you wish to fully extricate yourself from these events, I have two other options for you all to consider,” Dyre eventually went on to say, prompting several desperate glances amongst the prisoners-to-be. “Your first option is to agree to remove yourself from this conflict and serve a sentence of ten days in a prison of atonement of Mithus’s choosing, whereupon your release, any transgressions that weigh upon your soul related to this conflict shall be forgiven. Be warned, however, this prison shall not be in Eberia, or anywhere even approximate to this region, but many, many leagues away.”
Dyre allowed another pause to allow the prisoners to process what he’d said and the clean slate that he’d offered them.
“If that option is not to your liking, a second option exists for those who wish to regain their freedom,” he said, his voice steady and calm as he spoke. “A full pardon and a bounty of coin will be granted to any who provide actionable intelligence regarding the Dread Crew, subject to Guildmaster Rastler and Bann Aldwin’s satisfaction.”
This time there was no silence, despite Dyre’s earlier demonstration.
“These choices are all bullshit! You’re trying to back us into a corner!” an enraged male voice called out amongst a chorus of angry and concerned whispering. “We can’t fight back, we can’t send private messages, you’re taking away all of our stuff, and now you’re expecting us to betray our own or run away?!”
“Not really,” I answered loudly, having anticipated some level of resistance once Dyre had presented the prisoners with their options. “At least not today. Possibly not tomorrow either. But after a week, two weeks, or maybe even a month of being here? I have a feeling that a few of you may change your minds.”
“You’re cracked if you think that we’ll spend that long here,” another prisoner growled at me in response, her words angry and venomous. “Soon as Carver finds out you’ve taken us prisoner—”
“He’ll do something about it. I know,” I interrupted, fixing the speaking woman with a knowing smile. “That’s exactly what we’re counting on. Assuming he even bothers to come for any of you at all.”
Scowling at me in response, the woman opened her mouth to no doubt reply with something suitably defiant but wasn’t able to get her words out fast enough before Dyre took over the conversation once more.
“Enough.” The commanding statement sliced through the air, causing all the voices to fall silent, lest the justicar demonstrate more of his power. “The time has come to make a choice. Are there any who want to take advantage of Mithus’s offer and wish to remove themselves from this conflict? I advise you all to choose carefully, as this offer will only be made available once every week.”
“I’ll take it,” a deep voice answered almost the second that Dyre finished speaking. “It’s not in me to become a turncoat, but I’ve had enough of this.”
“Me too,” another adventurer added. “I’m wasting my playtime being involved in this shit, and a change in scenery would be nice. I’m out.”
“Very well, you two may approach,” Dyre replied, signaling for the two adventurers to step out of line and approach him, a brief wave of angry and accusatory whispers echoing out from the other prisoners as they moved. “Any others?”
That’s surprising, I thought silently as we all waited to see if anyone else was interested in joining the pair, but after a few seconds, it was clear that there would be no other takers. I figured it would have taken at least a week before anyone took advantage of that option. Maybe things aren’t as peachy as we thought on Carver’s side?
“Only two, then,” Dyre stated, turning his attention towards the pair of adventurers. “Are you both certain that you wish to proceed with this course of action? There will be no return from this afterward.”
“I’m ready to get as far as possible from here,” the deep-voiced adventurer declared. “The farther the better, if you can arrange it.”
“I second that,” his partner added, turning to look back at the assembled prisoners. “Tell Carver and the others that we quit.”
“Then by Mithus’s will, it shall be done,” Dyre declared, the two adventurers instantly vanishing in a flash of golden light that caused everyone to blink. “Now, as for the rest of you,” the justicar went on to say, his voice maintaining its stoic tone. “You will have an option to exchange information for your freedom in the days to come. For tonight, however, you will be acquainted with your new accommodations and given a chance to come to terms with your captivity.”
With the justicar’s address finished, we all then went about the touchy task of stripping the prisoners of their gear and inventories and getting them settled into their cells. At first, it was slow going in getting the prisoners to cooperate in relinquishing everything they had on them willingly. But after several assurances from Dyre, along with notifications from the game itself, that their belongings would be held for their eventual release, and not simply stolen, things began moving faster.
Of course, that may have also been helped along by an extremely loud roar from Amaranth who had begun to get frustrated with how long it was taking to settle the prisoners.
Regardless of the motivation, however, Dyre and his wardens eventually managed to get all of the adventurers organized and moving into the prison, where they were split up into pairs, each cell having enough room to house two adventurers in reasonable comfort. During our building of the prison, we’d made sure to do our best to provide suitable accommodations for anyone who found themselves in there, knowing that a base level of dignity and comfort would go a long way to ensure compliance.
Content to stay out of the way during this process, I found myself a nice corner to stand in while I reviewed the latest entry that had appeared in my quest log, conveniently summarizing the battle that we’d just fought.
Battle Summary Update! War: The Town of Aldford vs. The Dread Crew
Sunday, April 7th – Battle on The Plains
Outcome: Victorious
Allied Player Casualties: 23
Allied Non-Player Casualties: 0
Enemy Player Casualties: 78
Enemy Non-Player Casualties: 0
Enemy Prisoners Taken: 18
War Assets Destroyed: 3
Rewards:
Glory Points: 324
Experience: 12,400
Leadership Experience: 6,500
There’s little else to make the day better like a battle won, I thought as I looked over the update, my eyes taking in all of the various details that it presented to me.
Having appeared after my declaration of war against Carver and his followers, the war quest and its related summaries had been a frequent sight over the last week as it documented our various clashes and skirmishes. Outlining the results of every battle that we fought, it tracked the overall status and progress of the war between our two respective factions, as well as handing out incremental rewards for each meaningful battle that we fought.
Meaningful being the key word there, I noted as my attention dropped down to the aforementioned reward section, and I noticed just how high all three of the values were compared to some of the previou
s battles that we’d fought, which had awarded notably less. It seems that taking prisoners was just what we needed to break this stalemate and hopefully buy us some breathing space—
My line of thought cut itself off as a wide yawn threatened to overcome me, a wave of sudden exhaustion following close behind.
“Ugh,” I whispered softly to myself as I dismissed everything from my vision, the day’s, or rather week’s, events rapidly starting to catch up to me now that I’d stopped moving. There’d simply been far too many late nights and early mornings over the last few days, and my body was starting to show its wear. Shaking my head as another yawn hit me, I decided that I’d worry about the battle logs and associated rewards tomorrow when I was feeling more rested to process what I was seeing. Right now, more than anything, all I wanted to do was wrap up the last few loose ends the day still had left in it and take a much-needed break.
“All right, everyone, I think Dyre has our new guests all sorted here,” I said as I called out to the group, noticing full well that I wasn’t the only one looking like they needed a long night’s sleep. “Let’s get our other tasks all sorted out and see if we can’t call it quits for the day. After the week we’ve had, I think we’ve earned a break.”
“Oh, yes, please!” Constantine exclaimed without a second’s hesitation as we all moved to leave the prison, giving the guards a farewell wave as we departed. “I’m dying for a pizza, a few drinks, and a night of being a couch potato.”
“I second all of the above,” Halcyon replied in an enthusiastic tone. “I’m dying for any real food at all right now, and I can barely remember the last time I logged off.”
“Then that makes me third, right?” Drace chimed in, the big man’s voice sounding completely exhausted. “Though I think I’ll be starting off with a nap first before eating anything. I just…can’t anymore right now.”
“Can we set up a video chat too tonight once we’re settled?” Freya asked, hooking her arm around mine as we walked. “It’d be nice to unplug for a little while and have some company.”
“Sounds great to me,” I replied, giving the woman a broad smile, already looking forward to the chance to see her again in reality. “Though before I drop off, I need to fill Aldwin and the others in about the battle and sort out our overnight plan.”
“And I need to check on the guild members too,” Sierra added, prompting a chorus of voices from everyone else about the things that they had to do before they could call it quits. “Also, if we’re having a video chat, should we invite Lazarus, Sawyer, and Ransom tonight too?”
“I have no problem with that,” Constantine replied with a shrug. “But I don’t know if they’ll all come. I’ve noticed that they’ve all been on the verge of burnout lately, Lazarus especially.”
“I can’t blame them,” I said, having noticed the same change in the group’s energy levels over the last week. “They’ve had a rough run of things lately—hell, we all have. I’ll see if I can find them after I’m done with Aldwin and extend an invite.”
“Please do,” Sierra said to me in a firm voice. “But if Lazarus is out for the night, still see if you can invite Ransom and, uh…Sawyer too.”
“Of course,” I promised, hearing a faint snort echo out from Freya beside me as we entered the town square once again. “What’s—”
“Thanks, Lyr,” Sierra replied, moving to grab Freya by her other arm and pull her away from me. “Hey, mind coming with me, Freya? I can get this all sorted out faster with your help.”
“Sure thing,” Freya answered in an amused tone as she let go of my arm and allowed herself to be dragged away by the red-haired elf. “I’m always happy to help.”
“Did I miss something there?” I said in a confused voice, watching the two women leave at almost a run.
“Oh, you missed something, all right,” Constantine replied with a snort. “But if your Perception score isn’t high enough to figure out what just happened, then there’s nothing I can say that’s going to help you.”
“Gee, thanks, Constantine. For a minute there, I thought you were someone helpful,” I grunted, rolling my eyes at the rogue.
“Oh god, whatever made you think that?” he exclaimed in mock offense. “Did you get hit in the head today? Should we take you to Shelia?”
“No, but you still might get hit at this rate,” I retorted, prompting friendly chuckles from everyone still with us as I turned to walk into the town hall. “Anyway, I’ll see you all in an hour or so back in reality. In the meantime, though, Amaranth, would you mind keeping Constantine out of trouble for a little while?”
“Lyr, come on, I was kidding, please don’t make me run,” Constantine said, his voice suddenly becoming nervous as he took a large step away from the cat. “That’s not fair after a day like today.”
“No,” I corrected with a grin. “Not telling you that Amaranth has already started counting wouldn’t be fair.”
“Oh, shit!” Constantine gasped before bolting away from us, running through the town square in a full sprint, prompting a chorus of laughter to erupt from the group around us.
“Oh, man,” Halcyon said in between laughs. “I love hide and seek featuring Amaranth.”
“Don’t we all?” I agreed, watching the cat’s legs tense as he prepared to chase after the rogue. “Maybe go a little easy on him this—”
Unfortunately, before I could finish my words the cat was already gone.
Chapter 3
A disembodied wave of excited voices greeted me as I entered the town hall, the building packed with a sizable chunk of Aldford’s adventurers in attendance, all of them eating and drinking as they unwound from today’s battle. Walking along the edges of the room, I couldn’t help but notice the stark contrast to the room’s energy when compared to breakfast this morning, the mood then having been somber and quiet.
Victory goes a long way to cheer people up, I said mentally, pausing to wave at Huxley and his group who were sitting at a long table with several other Virtus guild members as I walked by, my path taking me towards the stairs leading to Aldwin’s office. I’m sure things aren’t nearly as happy on Carver’s side of things tonight.
Unable to keep myself from smiling at that thought, I felt a wide grin spread across my face as I went on to imagine Ignis telling Carver how he’d managed to lose nearly two dozen adventurers to us today.
Wouldn’t it be nice to be a fly on the wall for that conversation? I thought with a chuckle as I reached the stairs and began to make my way upward, the noise from the common room fading away into a dull roar by the time I reached the top. Seconds later, I was opening the door into a now well-used meeting room, catching someone in the middle of speaking.
“—then we’ll proceed up along the ridge edge looking for stragglers he—Oh, there you are, Lyrian!” a man’s voice announced as I walked into the room. “We were wondering when you’d show up.”
“Well, you know, Cassius. Sorting out a fresh crop of prisoners and introducing them to their new homes tends to slow a person down,” I replied without missing a beat as I entered the room, my eyes spotting Hallowguarde’s guildmaster standing over a large table with Aldwin and Veronia, the three of them having been looking over a large map covered with markers before my arrival.
“No doubt,” the bald-headed Eberian said with a snort. “But serves them right in the end. What was the final count on prisoners in the end?”
“Eighteen captured in total from the battle,” I replied, turning my gaze away from Cassius and onto Aldwin. “And two of them took Dyre’s offer of banishment, and he sent them to a Prison of Atonement elsewhere.”
“Good! As much as their cowardice and the injustice at letting them go pains me, would it be that more of the prisoners took him up on that offer!” Aldwin declared heatedly,
a hard expression on his face. “At least then we would be certain that they were far enough removed from us and this war as not to burden us with their care.”
“I think it’s a matter of time before more do so,” I said, knowing exactly where the bann was coming from. We’d done our best to ensure that the prisoners were well contained within the prison we’d built, but the risk for escape was still there, along with the steady drain of resources and manpower that it took to keep them captive. “I am hoping that some of them will consider giving up information about Carver in exchange for freedom. The sooner we can find out where he’s based out of, the sooner we can start pressuring him there on two fronts and hopefully find an end to this war.”
“Hopefully,” Aldwin replied in a doubtful tone. “Yet all my years of experience tell me that we have far more in store for us before we catch even a glimpse at victory. We still must be wary of the orcs that were allied with Carver in the past, for I doubt we have seen the last of them.”
“Yeah…” I agreed with a resigned shrug, that particular point having come up multiple times in the last week. Despite the ferocity of the war so far and the recent stalemate on the plains, we’d seen neither hide nor hair of the orcs that had joined Carver’s ambush at the tower a few weeks earlier, leaving us all to wonder where they’d gone.
Or better yet, where they’d come from in the first place.
“Well, as Lyrian is fond of saying, that’s a future problem for us,” Cassius said before inviting me to look at the map on the table with a wave of his hand. “Right now, though, we need to focus on how we’re going to take advantage of today’s success, and I think we have a good plan laid out here.”
Glory to the Brave (Ascend Online Book 4) Page 4
