Chapter 12
Locking Yourself Away Without A Key
“Oh, looks like your parents couldn’t come. Probably for the best.” The male continued. “Now it is time we need to talk about what happens next…”
A quick scan of my personal logs shows two green dots over the names of Hector and Golum, yes I modified the elf’s personal display to say Golum. Anyways seeing their green dots takes away some of the sting from what happens next.
“You are locked in here with the three of us. Do you know what that means?” The lead Adventurer speaks, apparently designated as the spokesman for the group.
I just begin going through contingencies in my head, as I realize the two most likely scenarios for this entire random encounter were not even close to what this actually was.
So far, I had been running this as either a combined three tier training exam for the Adventurer’s Guild, Mages Guild, and Thieves Guild all at once. Sort of unlikely, but not entirely unheard of. The second option was also just as likely, as I figured this could have been a good old-fashioned murder to tie up the loose ends on a dangerous political maneuver that had gone sideways. The most likely cause for this being the possible eradication of the Legrand Juggernaut class ship. Of course, reprisals from my most recent mission would generally take time and generally be done at a higher level of visibility if I was being disavowed by my government. The latter also had its plans for while it wouldn’t be too far off to assume the Mages and Adventurers guild would give a joint advancement, the Thieves guild joining would be odd to say the least. Though none of these people actually identified as being from one of the three guilds either. That was why what came next was a complete shock to me.
“It means until we decide to let you go, we are stuck in here. This is a team temple, where we are locked in each floor, until every member wishes to move on, or move out. That means you are stuck here with us. We are going to give you one opportunity to come with us willingly, before we make you come with us.” The lead Adventurer speaks.
I pause, letting the words flow through my mind. Then I am hit by a sudden question, this is a kidnapping? A couple of scenarios come to mind. The most obvious being that I could be taken into custody, chained and then delivered to the Legrand Empire, such a fate is not uncommon for spies. But again, this is all so sudden, too many moving parts had to be made directly after the attack on the Legrand Empire’s ship to make me think that these two events couldn’t be linked. That means this is likely linked to something else I did. The most obvious case is the Roboticus Industry take down, but Mr. Madolf should still be busy, though I guess no one was ever too busy for a little revenge plot. I am running through these scenarios one after the other, then I learn the truth.
“We are going to turn you over to your own people.” The adventurer says.
At that, I pause.
“Wait you three are bounty hunters?” I ask, realizing why a team of three highly specialized individuals would go through such an elaborate trap, just to capture little ol’ me.
“Yes, and we intend to turn you over to the Underdark. We can do this the easy way or the hard way.”
HAHAHAHAAHAHA!
I burst out laughing. I laugh so hard that I nearly double over.
“We are serious about this. Your only way to escape is to come with us, now!” The Adventurer demands. He tries to sound serious, and he likely is. The Underdark has put out a large missive on my head, especially with me being on the verge of my magical awakening. I am a Shade Touched dark elf who has a severe aversion to killing, due to my ability to feel the spirits of what I kill. Killing just feels odd, and my emphasis on being a pacifist is something that has made me a bit of an anomaly in a game world where killing for fun and profit is considered the norm.
Of course, this high affinity with spirits is just a sign of my true power that will be unleashed when I become awakened to my magical gifts at 13. News flash, I already know I will have a max Tier VII potential in magic, one of the rarest thresholds for a magic user, thanks to one of my last Merits I took when I first entered the world finally about ready to come due. The only real question for me is what school of magic I will have an affinity to. My being Shade Touched means I already have a 5% bonus to learning, using, and resisting Death and Spirit magics. This alone has made me very sought after by the Dark Elves, and while attempts to contact me have been made, I generally avoid them.
Up until now my interactions with the Dark Elves has been a bit of a fun distraction. They come, I run and hide, then they get annoyed and give up after a time. Then I go about my day as usual. It seems that this level of persistence has evolved, as now people that aren’t Dark Elves are coming after me.
Still, this is my one chance to change the terms of this encounter. Being in here with me, I assume a few things, first they need me alive, which is good, kind of hard to turn in a corpse for one of these types of quests.
Second, they likely want me to come willingly seeing how outnumbered I am.
Third, they just bit off more than they can chew, and I am about to make them choke on it.
“No, you only have one way to escape, and that is to leave right now.” I respond, then I hold up my finger for emphasis. I wait a second, and sure enough no one has asked permission to leave, meaning they did not take me seriously. At that, I just shake my head. “See, I want you to realize you have this whole encounter backwards, I am not trapped here with you three.”
“What?” The Adventurer asks showing his full capacity for improvisation brought to good use.
“No, you three are now trapped here with me.”
Poof.
And like that, I am gone. This is perfect for me, as I have a completely new Trait to try out and master and three willing subjects to try it on.
I focus on trying to find sentient minds nearby and am pleasantly surprised to find that there aren’t just the three Adventurers, well the three slavers, because let’s face it that is what turning me over to the Underdark right now would mean. I would be locked in a prison, an elegant prison, don’t get me wrong, but a prison, nonetheless. Then when my time to unlock magic was revealed, I would either be prized and set up to be a likely ruler of the Underdark, meaning I would have to worry about constant attempts on my life, both by would be assassins from the surface, and other Shade Touched dark elves that would want my position. Or worse, I was found to have a school of magic unbefitting of one like me and eliminated. In all not something I would be particularly interested in. Especially as my current role allows me a certain anonymity while still having an amazing time. Honestly the idea of being a hidden princess is a trope I would rather avoid if at all possible. It just sounds painful and boring.
Still, I am now 500 meters away in a depression where I instantly sit down and decide to grind the skill that goes along with my new Trait Telepathy.
New Skill Gained: Telepathy has increased to level 1. Skill Telepathy is a Personality, Sociability, and Willpower based skill.
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What? The Willpower I get, as all Traits are backed by Willpower, but Personality and Sociability as well? Meaning, I can become more social by mentally assaulting the mind of other people and stealing their secrets? This is too much fun!
With that, I begin the long process of trying to improve my skills against three willing subjects.
***
“Yeah, she is probably in that big cave up ahead. You’ve got her.” I mentally transmit to the three as I watch them try to follow my path through the giant cave system on this first floor of the temple.
Again, I might have said it before, but Temples have one of two designs. Either they start off super wide and get progressively smaller on the way up, or they are inversed in their design. This being an Earth and Water temple are built with a large area to cover for the first floor. I am guessing it is roughly thirty kilometers by thirty kilometers squared. Meaning the amount of area I can hide in, and away from these three is impressive. Also, I’ve already tagged their spiritual components to be different colors. The Adventurer guy is red, as I think of him as a hot head.
“Get out of my head!” The Adventurer screams, out loud not really realizing that I can hear his thoughts just fine. Also, see what I mean about being a hot head?
Snuffle.
“Oh, you awoke the baby drakes from their slumber.” I comment in their minds, as I can all but feel the nervous tension cross the minds of all three adventurers who are here trying to find a way to get to me.
Skitter.
Hundreds of tiny drakeling claws scratch their way across stone as they make their way towards the source of the disturbance.
Immediately the three get into a defensive formation. The big Adventurer taking up front with a shotgun and a sword in hand. I have to give the meathead some credit, duel wielding those weapons takes a lot more strength than I currently have. Also, I am terrible with all ranged projectiles, something about needing to accurately see where I am aiming a weapon to hit what I want. Yeah, being blind sucks for my Marksmanship skills. Still, it does have its perks, like allowing me to see the mayhem that this little team does crammed on a narrow ledge of a mountain as they fight a surge of tiny giant rat sized dragonlings coming forward and surging at the group.
Shifty, the silent Thief member of the group pulls out a bow and arrow and lobs a projectile over the head of the tank, and into the center mass of the surging drakelings.
Boom!
Instantly a burst of energy ripples through the drakes, shredding many of them in one fell swoop.
I watch all the death and sadly, I can see the spirits of the poor little guys lingering in the area for a moment. Shaking my head at the loss, I just rest assured knowing that I wasn’t the cause of their deaths, nor their ire. Still these types of events are getting harder and harder to avoid, as death is a natural state of Biprism, to grow often means that others must suffer and die.
Even now, I can see the angry spirits of the little drakes surging forward and taking invisible bites at the ankles of the three killers. I really hope this is just a side effect of my Angel’s Sight, like maybe I’ve unlocked the next level of evolution of the ability. But I doubt that is the case, especially as I have been able to experience similar things to this since my first day here, when I battled the Stone Dragons and felt the angry spirit of the Matriarch fighting me even from beyond the grave.
Logically I know this is likely part of my Shade Touched heritage showing itself in some way. Part of me sees the angered spirits and I wonder if I could empower these spirits by infusing them with energy to attack this joint enemy. Then another part of me is disgusted by such an idea, as that would effectively make me a Necromancer. No, for the moment I feel that avoiding death at all costs is likely the way to go.
Still, that is enough of these depressing topics that I can’t really do anything about. Now it is back to the fun topics like psychological warfare against idiots.
Finally, after a long few seconds of battle, the three finally kill all the little drakelings.
“Poor little guys. They just wanted to bite your ankles and have a quick meal.” I say to the three, mentally imposing my thoughts on their minds. This new power Telepathy is too much fun. Not only can I read people’s minds, but I can put my own thoughts out there as well. Meaning I have been slowly grinding up my levels in my Telepathy skill, while slowly grinding away at the resolve of these three adventurers.
“Aren’t you tired. End this now and we can go home. We will say we didn’t find you, that you weren’t available.” The Adventurer guy all but begs.
“NO, we just started playing.”
“This isn’t a game!”
“Then you have the entire wrong mindset to survive here.”
With that little exchange done, the third guy the thief points up the ridge in a rough approximation of my direction. He is surprisingly accurate, especially considering I didn’t walk or make any movements other than Teleporting directly into my current position. That means his Skill doesn’t actually track me by retracing my steps, rather it must just instinctively know where I am at all times. Seeing it in action, I intend to do a few things. First, I want to see if I too can learn this skill. Second, I want to see what the skills limitations are.
As for me, right now I am lying down with my back against the ground relaxing, from 500 meters away at the top of a mountain pass. I am in a secure alcove that seems like it would be nearly impossible to notice by others, which is why I take the moment to relax and just let my mind find their minds and harass them every chance I get.
Finally, after hours of constant chasing me over the worst terrain possible, only for me to disappear at the last moment, the trio gets tired and decides to bunker down for the night.
“You are going to let old shifty take first watch?” I tell the trio as they let the thief of the group take up the first watch. Of course, they are all tired, they have a fire going, which is great for me. As I intend to cause a little mischief.
As the three go down to sleep, I start slowly using my Telekinesis, to feed the fire. What do I feed the fire, well all the dried rations the team has in their packs of course. Packs that are resting on the ground.
Crackle.
The flame erupts slightly for a bit, but then dies down. Shifty, the thief of the group notices the increase in temperature and stares at the flames. His mind lets me know he thinks I am up to something but can’t quite understand what.
“Don’t stare at the flames, it will take away your night sight, making it harder to see me when I get close.” I mentally tell the thief.
“You wouldn’t dare come here.” He mutters.
Smiling evilly to myself I take off my EGGs, the hood of my cloak, and my mask. For the first time since I began this harassment operation I have my entire face uncovered.
My hair is now a deeper silver, again a sign of my growing latent magical ability. But what is most disconcerting are my eyes, true unequivocal proof that I am not only blind, but Shade Touched.
Poof.
I appear at the peripheral of the thief, so close that I am almost within his grabbing range. Then I tap, his opposite shoulder with my Telekinesis. I can all but feel the moment of recognition from his thoughts as he turns to look at his shoulder, then quickly looks back to where I was standing, only to find empty air.
Poof.
HAHAHAA!
I laugh loudly from the center of the camp, only now I grab the backpacks and hurl them into the fire. Then disappear.
Poof.
“Huh!”
“Wha?”
The Mage and Adventurer awaken groggily for a minute, before realizing that their packs are in the middle of the flames.
“What.” Instantly the adventurer tries to strike his equipment out of the fire, while the mage casts an ice spell.
The result is even more damage to the bags, and now the adventurer’s pack is still burning while ice is on its other side.
This is psychological warfare of the highest order. Being a child still, I don’t need food, a blessing I am thankful for most days, especially on days like today when I can destroy so much perfectly good food without having to worry about negative side effects.
“You monster!” The Adventurer screams, mostly to me, even as half his body is covered in a coat of frost. Then breaking free, he dashes forward and tries to put out the rest of the flames from his pack that is burning on the ground nearby, while the mage tries to salvage what is left from his. Their bright fire of course is gone, meaning the only source of light is coming from the burning backpack. A backpack that the Adventurer is desperately trying to put out.
“I wouldn’t do that…”
I pause, then I feel the moment of dawning realization hit the three of them as they realize their fire that had been keeping them warm was now ice cold. The moment they come to that realization; I start in on my taunting once more.
“Now that we are all awake, will you play with me?”
“You BRAT!” The normally calm mage guy yells. Seeing that I’ve finally gotten to him, fills me with a sad form of glee that is hard to describe. There are times when you go about your life and you realize that you might just be a monster. This was one of those times.
“We will get you.” The Adventurer called out.
From reading their minds, the Adventurer is the only Regressor. I can tell as he keeps having thoughts about sponsorships and how he would become a top earner if he managed to capture me for this quest. Sadly the streams of other regressors is not something that Media Blackout can stop, but it can be limited to what the other person experiences. And so far as I know the thoughts of people are not made visible to the audience, as such this will likely look bad for the perspective streamer.
“It is sad that Moose over there, has a side hustle for me.” I share in the minds of all three, and mentally send an image of the Adventurer, while thinking the word Moose. This is a new aspect of the skill and one I either just realized, or just became possible due to my increasing skill level.
The Mage and Thief just look at the Adventurer, the one I will take to calling Moose for now.
“Haven’t you wondered where he is getting his nice gear? He has money coming in for me, that he hasn’t even told you about. New gear, new equipment. Sure, the backpack hurts, but this is nothing compared to what he will gain in addition to the rewards from this quest.”
I say, and like that, I spark the wedge of distrust between them all. It is brilliant, the three don’t trust the thief as he let me get into the camp unnoticed where I was able to burn away most of their rations and gear, while his gear is in near perfect condition. Then the mage is on the outs for putting out the flames, while the Adventurer is on the outs for having a side hustle, due to his being a Regressor with an outside sponsorship deal on the line.
This is so much fun, and only just the beginning.
With my mischief done for the night, I move out, find a secret hiding spot that looks nearly impossible for others to find, one that is quite a few kilometers away and bunker down for a quick hour of sleep. I know Sketchy, the thief can track me, but for the moment I think they have far greater concerns to worry about.
Before I close my eyes, I take a quick glance at my friends tab and am relieved to see that there are still two glowing green lights next to Golum and Hector’s images, meaning that even if they were attacked they managed to survive. Realizing all is right with the world, I close my eyes and let my brain slowly calm down from the surge of adrenaline that I am still feeling.
I go to sleep and decide that tomorrow I will start trying to explore this floor in earnest, there must be some types of treasures here, just waiting to be discovered. Putting my gear back on, I find a comfortable place to curl up, and instantly fall asleep. Tomorrow I will explore the first floor of a tower, while also trying to occasionally mess with some adventurers, this world truly is amazing.