True scions of Yrrilm abhor necromancers, especially those capable of binding souls. They see the holding of a soul as a complete violation of their goddess’s domain – that being the capture of released souls into her web so that they may be used for whatever purpose the gods may have of a soul. The musings on the purposes gods may put a soul to use for could fill another book in its entirety, and as such, will be left out. Yrrilm’s capacity for capturing souls allocates her a prime position within the pantheon of gods, philosophically. While we may not know the purpose of the souls, we know that they are a resource, and that she doles out this resource to the other gods. Her church and its followers are known to commit to hunts of a sort for necromancers and liches who have denied their goddess her rightful harvest of souls. Those that are captured instead of killed are taken deep within secluded temples and not seen again.
-A Brief Discussion of Yrrilm and Her Worshippers, Aldred Mundi
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The woman who had been leading Xander opened the door and gestured inside to him. Xander followed her silent instruction and entered the room. The door was quickly shut behind him, leaving Xander alone with Brinn Grefelt. He briefly took in the office. It was small – intimate, he recalled the description of his guide – but well apportioned. A large desk took up most of the space in the room, and shelves lined the wall behind the desk. Lady Grefelt sat at the desk, looking Xander over as he hesitated by the door. She was finely dressed in a doublet that was white with black stripes on the sleeves. Xander could not see below her stomach from his position, the desk blocking the view, but assumed – and hoped – that she was wearing pants as well. They were likely of just as fine quality.
“Have a seat, then,” Lady Grefelt told him, in a tone that implied it was less of an offer and more of an order.
The only other chair in the room was on the other side of the desk, directly facing her. Xander sat down, feeling very much like he was about to be interviewed for a job he didn’t know the first thing about.
“Xander Jones, I assume?” The noblewoman asked.
“Ah, yes. Pleasure to make your acquaintance, Lady Grefelt.” Xander said as politely as he could.
“Mm, yes. Quite.” Lady Grefelt responded. “You know why you’re here?” She asked bluntly.
“You – well, the people you represent, I suppose – want to hire me for a job.” Xander answered. “But the job itself was left… unspecified. Which I must admit makes me uncomfortable.”
“Not a fan of surprises? I suppose surprises are often those of a negative sort in your line of work,” Lady Grefelt mused. “But that is why we are both here now, to clarify the details of the task to which you will be set.” She paused, looking at Xander.
“That is why I came, I suppose,” Xander answered. “That and I figured it would not be a good idea to offend you or the royal family by not showing up.”
Lady Grefelt chuckled at Xander’s candor. “Yes, that would be a good way to ensure that you never got another contract offer from a noble in Sempta. Just so we are clear, you are interested in the job?”
Xander nodded. “I’m interested. I’m hesitant to commit to saying I’ll undertake the contract without knowing more, but I’m definitely interested.”
“Interest will suffice in your case,” Lady Grefelt said. “One of the reasons you were chosen for the job is that it was decided that you would be likely to take it once it was explained to you with the, admittedly little, information we have of you.”
“Wait, have you been spying on me?” Xander asked, suddenly suspicious.
“Only a little,” Lady Grefelt said with a mischievous smile. “And for a good cause. We just needed to ascertain whether you were trustworthy or not. Though, to speak plainly, the reports of your… actions at Ilbek laid the base groundwork for that determination.”
“I see,” Xander said, not sure he saw at all. “So, I assume everyone decided I was good enough, then?”
“Oh yes, there was little dissent on the topic of your selection.”
“That’s good to know,” Xander replied. “So, uh, what exactly do you want me to do?”
“We want you to work with a team of stealth specialists to rescue Dardin’s spymaster from a Thraskian prison camp.”
Xander thought for a moment before speaking. “Okay… but why me? I’m all for it – a Thraskian ‘prison camp’ sounds awful, but what do you need me for if you’re employing stealth specialists?”
Lady Grefelt listed off the reasons for including Xander. “For three reasons. One, your material manipulation ability allows you to go through or under anything that stands in your way. That alone could allow you to make entry for the stealth specialists into the prison camp more easily. Second, we’d like you to devise a mode of transport that can accommodate Karlon – that’s the spymaster’s name. He… may not be in any condition travel by horse. Third, you’ve proven yourself an excellent fighter, and more importantly, capable of widespread disruption and distraction of a large force. Should the team tasked with extracting Karlon need a distraction, you as well as one other member of the team - a swordsman whose skillset lends itself well to large scale combat - will be expected to provide one.”
Xander nodded slowly. “Alright. Okay. Yeah, that makes sense,” he said, just as much to himself as to Lady Grefelt. “I think I can do that. Making holes in things is doable, and making distractions are easy with explosives. I ought to be able to make a way to transport the team to this prison camp and back, along with the spymaster. Can you tell me about who I’ll be working with?”
Lady Grefelt nodded. “I suppose it’s only fair, since the rest of the team has already been given a briefing on you. There will be five of you in total. Yourself, three stealth skill users, and the already mentioned swordsman. None of them are mercenaries. The three stealth specialists, Norin, Florin, and Varnne, were under the employ of Dardin’s spymaster. Probably the best sneaks there were in Dardin, at least that the crown could call upon. Norin and Florin are siblings – twins – a sister and a brother. The fourth daughter and third son of a minor noble house. Varnne… I’m not sure where Karlon picked him up, but I’m quite certain he was a criminal before he worked for the crown. The swordsman is named Rald. He was an officer who acquitted himself well during the war with Thrask. He managed to escape the capital, aiding in the defense of the royal family.”
“Mm. I see. Are they going to have a problem with me being a mercenary?” Xander asked.
“Rald might have had some reservations, but your service in the Dardian army seems to have negated that. The other three, they had no issue with it.”
“Good to know. I have another question, now that I think about it,” Xander said.
“Ask away.” Lady Grefelt said, leaning back into her chair.
“You mentioned the spymaster might not be in traveling condition. Why?”
“I take it you’ve never seen a Thraskian prison camp, then. Starvation is a common tactic to ensure that skill users are less of a threat by keeping the body frail and weak, and torture is not uncommon for those that are deemed to hold knowledge that Thrask desires.
“Fuck,” Xander muttered. “And we’re only rescuing the spymaster? Can’t we liberate the whole place? Surely there are other people that would be useful to Dardin there.”
“Possibly there are,” Lady Grefelt confirmed. “But at the moment we have not the manpower to martial what would be a direct act of war against Thrask. It was decided that the most that could be done would be to extract the most critical prisoner with a small team. Should you manage to… acquire more prisoners than the spymaster, it may be looked upon favorably. Especially should any of them be relations or friends of what remains of the free and living members of the Dardian nobility here in Sempta. But that is all secondary to retrieving the spymaster. Do you understand? He is the most critical factor in this contract – the only reason it was decided that the risk this contract incurs is anywhere near worth it.”
“I get it,” Xander replied. “I don’t like it, but I get it.”
“Good.”
“When does the job start? I’m going to need time to make that transport you mentioned.”
“You’ve got two weeks.”
“Right. Nose to the grindstone. Do I get to meet the team?” Xander inquired.
"At the moment, they are traveling, but I will contact you when they arrive so that you may all formally introduce yourselves," Lady Grefelt replied.
“Gotcha. Is there anything else you need from me or should I go?”
“You may leave, if all your questions have been answered. You are, of course, welcome to come back should you have more,” Lady Grefelt responded.
“I should get gone, then, and get to work,” Xander stated as he stood.
“Best of luck in your endeavor,” Lady Grefelt called after him as he exited the office.
Xander closed the door behind him and looked around. He realized something, then. With the effects of [Engraved in Memory] enhancing his ability to memorize and remember things, he could recall with a fair amount of certainty the route he’d taken as he was led to the office. It was nice to not feel lost. He retraced his steps, taking the stairs down two floors, and found himself once again in the large foyer. Exiting the building, he pulled on his wings from his inventory and took flight. He was on a time crunch now, and wanted to get to work on the vehicle right away. His mind was already turning the idea over as he flew. They wanted him to make a transport? He could do that. In fact, he was kicking himself for not having made one already. It would have come in handy many times, he was sure. For a job like this, where he needed to be able to get somewhere that was probably remote, and definitely hostile, he’d need something sturdy and defensible, with a good amount of interior space to carry a team. He nodded slightly to himself as he flew. What he needed was an armored personnel carrier. That brought up another question. Where was he going to have the space to build an APC? Many of the streets in the city wouldn’t accommodate such a large vehicle. Neither the inn nor Valteria’s shop had the space around them for him to fabricate something of that size. Perhaps one of the empty fields he had trained in for the tournament would be best. Outside of the town, he’d have plenty of space, and he could drive it along the outskirts and the wider roads outside of town to get it to the governor’s estate.
First, he needed to actually design the damn thing, though. And before he did that, both his team and Valteria deserved a visit to know that he’d be leaving in a couple of weeks for an indeterminate amount of time. It had taken three months for him to get to Sempta from Anlet, roughly. He had no idea where this prison camp was, but he assumed it wouldn’t be conveniently nearby. Hopefully the APC would speed up the travel time.
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He decided that Valteria would be the easiest to visit first. By this point in the day, his teammates would likely be out and about pursuing their own interests. He’d talk to Valteria first, start sketching out the design for his APC, and then once dinner time rolled around and his teammates returned to the inn, he’d talk with them. Xander curved his path to lead him to Valteria’s shop, now that he’d decided on exactly where he’d go. In little time at all, he was once again in front of her shop.
Xander let himself in, opening the door to see Jarrett working away on an unidentified device, and Valteria with the remains of the clock that had been brought to her by a customer spread out in front of her. Jarrett offered a wave as he saw Xander coming in, his workstation facing the doorway. Valteria had to pause her work and turn around to see who had entered, and realizing it was Xander, got up to give him a hug. “You’re back!” She exclaimed. “That wasn’t too long. How did it go? Did you take the job? What was the governor’s mansion like?”
Xander returned the hug, giving Valteria a squeeze, and snorted a short laugh. “Which one should I answer first?” He asked as he disentangled himself from the hug.
“Mmm, I guess tell me if you took the job first.”
“I did. It seems important, and it was pretty heavily implied that it would be… good for my career if I accepted. With a healthy dash of it also being bad for my career if I don’t accept. Overall the meeting went well – the liaison was polite, if a bit stern. Maybe stern isn’t the right word. But the kind of demeanor of someone who was very used to having people do exactly as they said. Uhm, oh right. The governor’s mansion. Well, from what I saw, it’s… opulent is the best way to describe it. The entryway was huge. Bigger than most houses. Lots of gold and dark wood. But the rooms themselves, or at least the grand total of one that I was in, were smaller. The guard that led me there said that a lot of the rooms were smaller for a more intimate feeling.” Xander trailed off, not sure quite how to tell Valteria that he would be leaving in two weeks and he wasn’t sure for how long, but it would likely be months. “Ah… Valteria?”
“Yes?” She said, her head tilted upwards to meet Xander’s gaze.
“You know I have to leave for the contract, right? I don’t even know how long I’ll be gone for. Months, possibly.”
Valteria nodded, a little sadly. “I figured.” She shook her head slightly to clear the sadness from her face. “But that’s part of being a mercenary, isn’t it? I knew something like this would happen eventually. I just… didn’t expect it to happen so soon, since you and your team were taking a break.”
Xander nodded along as he thought about Valteria’s answer. He supposed it made sense that she was at least somewhat prepared for this. After all, it was pretty well known that mercenaries were frequent travelers. Some were completely itinerant, taking up contracts as they traveled. If she wasn’t okay with that then it would have been silly of her to even entertain beginning something with Xander. That didn’t mean that it wasn’t disappointing to either of them for him to have to leave, though. Especially so soon into this newfound relationship.
Jarrett continued on with the device he was working on, doing his best to appear as if everything was normal and he wasn’t being forced to eavesdrop on a personal and emotional conversation. Xander wondered if Valteria had told him they’d begun dating – surely they were close enough, since he’d been working under her for years – or if this was coming as a complete surprise to him to find out that they were in a relationship.
“I’ve got plenty of time to wait around for you, after all. Months aren’t exactly a chunk out of my lifespan – or yours, Xander. Just… promise me you will be coming back at some point, and that you’ll be careful, okay? That’s all I ask. I know we haven’t been, ah, an item for very long, but I’ve grown rather attached to you already,” Valteria continued.
Xander wrapped Valteria in another hug, holding her tight. “I promise,” he told her. “I’ll make it as short as possible, and definitely no need to worry about me coming back.” He gave her a kiss on her forehead and he squeezed her a little tighter. “And next contract I go on, I’ll make sure you’re invited.”
Valteria wiggled a little bit, in the way that one does when they find that something is sweet and endearing from their significant other. “I’d like that. Are you able to tell me what the contract is about?”
Xander thought for a moment. “I probably shouldn’t get too specific. But I need to help rescue someone who needs rescuing.”
Valteria nodded in understanding. “At least it’s a good cause. Will it be dangerous, do you think?”
“Mmm, ideally no. I’m actually supposed to just make a transport – which I need to start on, I wish they’d told me earlier – and take the rest of the team there. They’re supposed to stealthily rescue this person. But, if for some reason they can’t… me and the other non-stealth guy are supposed to make a distraction so they can. Hopefully, though, that doesn’t happen, and I’m just a glorified chauffeur.
“What’s a ‘chauffeur?’”
“Oh, right, that’s a French word, isn’t it? I guess it doesn’t translate great with my skill? Uhm, it’s just another word for a driver. I was saying that hopefully, I’ll just be a glorified carriage driver.”
“Oh, I see. I think that would be ideal… and less dangerous. But, if they have you and another person on standby for a distraction, it sounds like they think it might be necessary.” Valteria said, sounding like she was a little nervous at the prospect of Xander being used as bait for a job.
“Don’t worry, with any luck, and maybe a few of my devices, there will be no need for a distraction. And if there is a need, well… I’m actually pretty good at making distractions and then leaving.”
“Well, I can certainly vouch for your fighting skills and mobility,” Valteria said with a small snort. “Just don’t do anything stupid.”
“I’ll do my best,” Xander promised. “Do you mind if I sit down and do some sketching here? I’m waiting ‘til around dinner time to catch the team all together again and tell them I’m taking the contract. Figured I’d get some work in between now and then on this transport I’m supposed to be making.
“Sure, that’s fine, there’s plenty of free workbench space. Jarrett and I need to work on replenishing the water purifiers anyways.”
As Valteria turned to start back on her work – Xander could see that she had a similar device as to what Jarrett was working on, shaped roughly like a funnel with a longer tube at the end than was normal – Xander found himself a workbench that was mostly free of clutter. Creating himself a few sheets of paper and withdrawing a pen from his inventory he started sketching out a rough profile of what he’d been thinking of as well as making notes on what aspects might present a challenge and how he planned to implement certain features. What came out was a roughly trapezoidal vehicle with three sets of double wheels for a total of twelve tires. He wanted this thing to be able to move across any kind of terrain. The rear would have a drop down ramp for loading and unloading, and there would be a hatch in the roof of the vehicle for exit and entry as well. Three rows of seating, well, more like two rows and a driver’s seat would leave a generous amount of space for cargo storage. Maybe he should go for an extra row of seats? Xander shook off the errant thought – he could always add more seats if it was a problem later. He was unsure of whether or not to try and create a gun to mount on top of the vehicle. He was leaning towards yes on that decision though. He’d rather have it and not need it than need it and not have it. The biggest problem he was having was figuring out how to steer the thing.
Xander knew that when a car’s steering wheel turned, there was a system that made the wheels on one side spin slower so that it turned better. But that was about all he knew about it. He had no idea how it was done, let alone how to recreate the system. He could maybe do it with intelligence runes. Have them cut power slightly to one side of the vehicle or the other depending on how it was turning. But how much power? It would take a lot of trial and error. And that was all without considering the physical mechanisms that translated the turning of steering wheel into the turning of the tires. Was there something else he could use besides a steering wheel? He recalled driving a skid steer on his family’s farm before. It had two independent throttles for each side of the vehicle. The more Xander thought about it, the more he liked the idea. Not only would he not have to figure out the proper ratio of power to cut, with two independent throttles, he could have the vehicle turn on a dime by setting one side into reverse and the other forward. He’d be able to turn a full circle without moving from his spot – which would be handy for getting the weapon he would be emplacing on the top of the vehicle into proper firing position.
Satisfied with his (very) rough draft of an armored personnel carrier – or was it an infantry fighting vehicle since he was putting a gun on top? – he walked over to Valteria to get her thoughts.
“What do you think?” He asked, sliding the paper onto the corner of Valteria’s desk.
Valteria placed the water purifier she’d been working on down to one side and took up Xander’s sketch, looking at it intently.
“It seems… big?” She questioned, hesitantly. “Not that I don’t think it would work, mind you. But it’s a hell of a lot bigger than my wagon. Do you think you can make something that size in two weeks?”
“It definitely is kinda big. But vehicles like this are meant to be big. I want space to carry lots of people and their gear. I don’t think it will be a problem to make… most of it is just going to consist of metal sheets that I rune up for armor. The part that’s probably going to take the longest are the wheels and the weapon I want to put on top. I’ll focus on the wheels, well, really on making the wheels spin right and steering, first. Then, if I have time, I’ll put a gun on top.”
“Well it sounds like you’ve got a pretty good idea of your production flow. When are you going to start?”
“I was thinking tomorrow. Today I’ll probably keep sketching things out and fleshing out ideas. Hell, this took me an hour alone to sketch out and come up with ideas, narrow stuff down.”
“Fair enough.” Valteria said. “Don’t rush yourself too much, though. I know you’re on a time crunch, but rushing and making a mistake that you have to go back and fix can take longer than planning a little more and then not making a mistake.”
“You’re right,” Xander agreed. “Fortunately my skills help me out there – I can change things out and rework them pretty easily. But it’s still the right sentiment and way to go about something like this.”
“Well, back to the drawing table then for you, I suppose,” Valteria said. “But don’t forget to talk to your team… or to take me out.”
“’Out?’” Xander said, with an impish tone. “I didn’t realize you’d come to expect me to take you out so frequently!” He said in mock surprise. “How fortuitous it is, then, that I happen to quite like taking you out! What a confluence of events this is.”
“Well… I don’t expect it,” Valteria said, sheepishly. “But I do like it.”
“I’m happy to oblige,” Xander said. And he was. He genuinely enjoyed taking Valteria out on dates. “It will also probably be good for me to take some breaks from building and designing, let my brain recharge a little bit. I can be… bad about diving too deep into a project I’m working on. Especially now that I don’t eat or sleep,” he explained, voice a little lowered. “So having some ‘forced’ breaks will be good for me! Especially for something I’ll be looking forward to,” he said, more jovially.
“I’ll hold you to those ‘forced breaks,’ then,” Valteria agreed. “Shall I let you get back to work?”
“I suppose so,” Xander sighed. “Back to the grindstone,” he lamented lightheartedly.
Considering that he was not much of an artist, Xander put aside the idea of making a more refined sketch – what he’d made was the limit of his artistic abilities. Besides, with his skills allowing him to fabricate parts with ease, he decided that he would be best served with making some a scale model instead, to ensure he was getting the runes right. He thought for a minute. What would he need for wheels? Rubber, obviously, perhaps with steel threading or cabling embedded in it to provide extra strength and structure. He needed a bearing for the wheel to spin on. That was something he could design fairly easily – a casing with ball bearings engraved with smoothness runes should serve quite well. Yes, he could set the wheels on axles that would not spin on their own like a car, but would still serve as something to pin the wheel to. Runes that monitored the throttle’s position would provide power depending on how far the throttle was pushed or pulled.
Xander started producing a model out of one of his cheaper materials – plain old steel. Rubber was more expensive, since it was a much more exotic material in this world, so he’d make this small working model entirely out of steel. It shouldn’t end up too heavy since he was only planning on making it the length of his forearm. He created a ball bearing style bearing, around which he created more steel, forming a small wheel with a bearing at its center. The center of the bearing was then melded to a miniature axle. He repeated this step again three times, creating two axles with four total wheels. He then joined them together with a central bar. He continued by creating two throttles, little more than sticks mounted to a spring that would hold it upright when not pushed or pulled. The two tiny throttles were mounted on a plate, which was then melded to the central bar holding the two sets of wheels together. Now it was time for the runes.
A series of runes connected to the movement runes on the wheels monitored how far the throttle was pushed forwards or pulled backwards. All the way forwards was one hundred percent power, halfway was fifty, so on and so forth. When the throttle was pulled backwards, the runes monitoring shut ceased powering the movement runes that would propel the vehicle forwards and instead began powering runes in the opposite direction, moving vehicle backwards. It all required a good number of intelligence runes to be able to monitor the multiple positions of the throttle, switch the runes from forward to reverse when needed, and modulate the amount of mana flowing into the runes, but beyond that, Xander felt that it was a relatively simple system. It consisted only of movement runes, intelligence runes, and gathering runes.
He gave one of the small throttles a push forwards, and the wheels on the corresponding side began to spin, turning the vehicle. He pushed the other throttle and received the same result. It seemed that working out the steering wouldn’t take as long as he’d thought. Xander paused, thinking of time. How late was it? He checked his watch. Damn! He needed to get going if he was going to catch the team for dinner.
“I gotta go,” he called over to Valteria, hurriedly standing up. “It’s time for me to go talk to the team, hopefully I don’t miss them.”
“Alrighty,” Valteria said, standing up as well, and going over to Xander to offer a hug. “I hope it goes well,” she said as Xander returned the hug.
“Thanks,” Xander replied, with a squeeze. “I’ll see you tomorrow, yeah?”
“Of course,” Valteria said warmly.