Emrin enjoyed the starry sky as he leaned back on a haystack, assembled neatly over the largest explosive device he’d ever seen. The stone road from Shantalar to Moonholme cut through a forest, but was weirdly level. The portals he was so used to were exclusive to soldiers of the Hallowed, he’d learned, but their horses were well trained and fed for the journey ahead. The necessary rats had been gathered and safely stored in steel cages secured to the wagon as well.
Perhaps most surprisingly, Veelander proved a good coachman. Emrin wondered about the bard’s calmness at times. He roughly knew what they were carrying around, but showed no signs of stress about it. Maldir had assured them that it wouldn’t blow without proper set up, but still, even Emrin felt a little anxious.
“Bossman,” Veelander said without taking his eyes off the road. “I don’t think I’ve heard of bombs being used in the frontlines before. Are you sure what you’re trying to do will work?”
“I have a certain… delivery method that’s unavailable to most.” Emrin chuckled, then stopped himself. He needed to stop being so trusting. Just because the bard had shown some redeemable traits, it didn’t mean he’d stay loyal in a pinch. “Tell me what you know about Moonholme.” Emrin had spent a lot of time in Twilight, but he knew very little about life on the other side of the veil. In his mind, Moonholme was little more than a dot on a battle map, strategic but impenetrable.
“The blaze-lantern of the north, they call it. Asohan has eternal day and Shantalar eternal night, so Moonholme being close to the middle point experiences eleven hours of sunlight and thirteen hours of moonlight.” He shrugged his shoulders. “Well, not exactly down to the minute, but you get the point. Some of the rarest materials in all of Elnoria are excavated and created in Moonholme, so there’s a lot of money flowing in and out.”
“And a lot of interest in keeping it armed and protected,” Emrin added. It was starting to come together now. A bump in the road made his head smack against the bomb’s hard exterior. The rats squeaked around in their cage. Perhaps some of that same money could be used to fix the roads leading to it. “What do they make?”
“You see that right there?” Veelander pointed and Emrin rose to see. In the distance, a sharp mountain peak rose from the ground like a thorny spire, reaching so high above the clouds that Emrin had to tilt his head back to see the snowy top.
“Skypierce,” Emrin said. Even though it had always been part of the Darkblessed territory, he knew this much. “The highest point in all of Elnoria.”
“Not sure about that, but it’s definitely the richest in sapphires, rubies, diamonds… even ωron. All necessary materials for spells, and all able to be infused with moonlight right at Moonholme’s keeps. Whenever the miners strike a new vein, it is said that every roof in the city is covered in brilliantly shining gems for weeks on end.”
“Seems like you know a lot, Veelander,” Emrin glanced at Skypierce and laid back down. “I didn’t expect that of you.”
“Why not? I love to gather stories and myths and turn them into song.” Veelander tapped his head. “All of them right here. You should really tell me some stories about your world too, boss. People say those blessed by the stars come from a weird, faraway land.”
“It’s got very little worthy of note,” Emrin mumbled. While in Twilight, he’d rather forget everything happening outside. “So, how are we getting into Moonholme? I assume they don’t let just anyone enter the city.”
“There is a passage through the mountains that’s normally used to safely supply the city. We’ll be reaching it soon, if the horses keep the same pace. We could pose are merchants or historians or maybe even bribe our way through, but well…” Veelander glanced over his shoulder. “Not with that thing in tow.”
Emrin looked at the bomb Maldir had given them as well. It was the length of a man and had half the weight of one. A real hassle to carry around. No guarantee it’d work either, but at least he could blame Xua Yu in that case. “Let me worry about the bomb.” He tapped the side of it. “Just get us as close to the city as you can, unseen.”
“Aye, boss,” Veelander said with some doubt. “Are the rats really necessary though? The things fucking stink.”
“While you smell of roses and gingerbread,” Emrin scoffed. “They’re from Shantalar’s sewers, Vee. Of course they stink. Would I bring them along if they weren’t vital?”
Veelander shook his head. “I don’t know what’s going through your head sometimes.”
“That’s why I’m chilling back here while you’re driving,” Emrin said. “And, well, cause I was never good with horses. Damn things have too hard a survival instinct to tame.”
“Survival instinct?” Veelander asked with some worry. One of their horses neighed anxiously, as if it knew. “What were you making the poor animals do?”
“Alright, enough loafing around.” Emrin hopped over the wooden plank and sat on the box right next to Veelander. “Since you like stories, let me tell you my own. In the past, I used to be on the frontline in the borders, in the heat of battle. I’d get into bloody fights each and every day and slaughter hundreds,” he said with some longing.
“I’ve seen you at it so I’m inclined to believe you.”
“And I’ve tried my hand at mounted combat more than once. You know how hard it is to steer a horse into a mass of enemy men without having it freak?” Emrin chuckled. If there was one thing he didn’t miss, those were the guild’s warhorses. Fickle, smelly, arrogant things. “The light from the central barrier totally weirded them out as well. Almost like they hated its magic.”
“Wait, the barrier is magic?” Veelander asked with genuine interest. “I always thought it retreated into the ground or something before the battle begun.”
“Huh?” Emrin chuckled. “What sort of ‘story collector’ are you? Of course it’s magic. Haven’t you seen it?”
Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.
“Are you nuts?” Veelander asked, then added a belated, “Boss. I wouldn’t even dare get near. These battles get so bloody, it’s said, that only those blessed by the stars dare take part. And they are usually much more tight-lipped than you, only ever speaking to each other.”
Emrin curved his lips upward. “Yeah, I guess that makes sense.” In hindsight, he’d almost never seen an NPC in a border battle, or even in a skirmish. The guilds usually hired them sparingly, not because they weren’t effective, but because their fees matched the deadly nature of each altercation. “Well, let me tell you, even those blessed by the stars fight expecting some hefty compensation.”
“I’m sure king Abistros paid you mercenaries quite well,” Veelander said.
“Uhm, yeah.” Emrin stopped himself and changed the subject. “Supposedly, the gods put up the barrier to prevent an all out war that would cost humanity a great many lives, but each time the balance of power between them is upset – during dusk and dawn– it drops for some time.” Emrin gazed forward. The moonlight shone the path through the forest and into a clearing. The foot of the monstrous mountain was closer than he’d anticipated, and the road took on a sharp incline that made the horses neigh with strain. After falling to a god’s curse, he’d done his research on them. One of the things that stood out to him was one of the more recent findings online. “They say the gods reside up there, in Skypierce, and that each has their own physical manifestation. That they watch over us all to ensure relative peace.”
“Do you really believe that?” Veelander asked with a low voice. He flicked the reins, making the horses gallop quicker.
“No God wants their followers dead, no matter how much they might despise one another.” Emrin simply smiled. “Even if it’s not a myth, humans have always found ways to fight. Gods willing or not.”
Up ahead, the passage that had been carved out through the mountain’s rock became visible. It only cut through its side, but that was already enough to save days of travel. The road levelled after the horses climbed up to the entrance. The light coming from the smooth cave ahead gave them pause. Gems of seven different colours adorned the walls of the cave in a twisting, dizzying pattern, all charged with moonlight and radiating power. Emrin was left staring at it for a few moments, eyes following red streaks formed of perfectly cut rubies. “I feel like torches would have been cheaper,” he settled eventually.
“I don’t think it’s about the cost,” Veelander said, loosening the reins and letting the horses move at their own pace. “It’s about the message. ‘See but don’t touch,’ perhaps?”
“Perhaps.” As they ventured deeper, the roof of the cave above seemed to get ever closer, until Emrin could see the crackle of magic in each individual gem and feel their power making his hair stand. “I wouldn’t risk touching those, to be honest.”
“Probably for the best.” Veelander pointed at a skeleton laying on the side of the cave, missing its left arm entirely. The charred marks had reached the shoulder bone itself.
Emrin shifted in his seat uncomfortably. “How much longer to Moonholme?”
“Five minutes, I’m guessing. The landowner that rented me the horses said the whole ride through the cave takes about ten.”
“Stop here then,” Emrin said, anxiety spiking a little. It was time to put his theory to the test.
Veelander looked around a bit bewildered but did as he was asked and pulled the reins, making the horses trot to a stop.
Emrin glanced around to make sure there was no one else around, then jumped back to the wagon’s body. First, he untied all the rat cages and assembled them neatly on the wood. The rodents squealed and squeaked and trampled on each other at the sudden disturbance, squished together as they were. The bottom of the cage and the animals themselves were still dyed in blood from the deep cuts on their backs, where Emrin had scored them earlier. Hiring people to go catch sewer rats and bring them out alive had taken more money than he was willing to admit, and wounding them one by one with the phantom dagger had taken up his entire morning. But it’d all be worth it soon… He brought forth a vial of acidic poison from his inventory. He’d tried to buy it off of Maldir this morning, but the man had thrown it in for free.
Vial of Poison:
Usable Item.
The poison deals a fixed 5 damage per second on direct contact with a target’s body, for five seconds. If ingested, a damage multiplier will be applied.
It was barely enough damage to kill a level 2 player, but for rats, it was more than enough. And that was the final piece of the puzzle Emrin needed. He hauled the bomb up with one hand, using one knee as support for it. “Please let this work.” He uncorked the poison vial and sprayed the rats through the steel bars, spreading it as evenly as he could. The effects were immediate.
[You have killed a Rat. Gained 1 character experience] [You have killed a Rat. Gained 1 character experience] [You have killed a Rat. Gained 1 character experience] [You have killed a Rat. Gained 1...
Emrin’s body vanished. And when he turned to look at the bomb, he saw that it had vanished as well. “Yes!” Emrin cackled like mad as he checked the details of his buffs. Ten cages with thirty five rats each meant more than half an hour of stealth. “All the tests and the hassle was well worth it! Ahahahahaha!”
Veelander looked in his general direction in pure confusion. “Boss, can you explain?”
Emrin calmed down a little, mostly out of fear of being heard. “It’s simple, really. The system considers something a ‘Kill’ no matter how little the amount of damage done was. Earlier this morning, I inflicted a permanent injury to a rat by scoring it and wanted to test if that would work as well, and to my delight, it did! As long as a creature gives me experience, I can use it to stealth. It’s not sustainable in the long term financially, but it’s great for now. Following that, I simply needed to check what Twilight considered ‘Equipment.’ Thankfully, just having something on your person and holding it aloft was enough. It worked with many random items I tried, so it makes sense that it’d work with this too.”
Veelander simply stood there, eyes staring into nothing. “Uhm... What?”
Emrin cleared his throat. He’d gotten too excited. “You’re wasting my precious invisibility time, that’s what. Get back and drive us the rest of the way.”
“Aye, Sir!” Veelander rushed to the front and got the horses moving again.
Emrin sat back down, cradling the bomb lovingly in his lap as he killed the remaining stragglers that the poison and its fumes hadn’t finished off. As the intense moonlight began to illuminate the cave, signifying their imminent arrival to Moonholme, Emrin really hoped the myths were true. That the real reason the barrier existed was because the gods wanted to prevent the loss of life and their followers from dying en masse. Because if that was the case, it was his turn to hand all those gods above a nasty surprise.