Garrett had noticed them before anybody else did, and gave careful instruction to let them get close enough to glimpse him through the inn's windows. Watching them hurry off into the night to report their findings to Gero, Garrett's expression was cold. He didn't want conflict, and would have been more than happy to negotiate with the Ebony Alliance, even allowing them to continue to move their goods through his territory for free. But Gero had schemed against him, and in Garrett's mind, that put her firmly in the camp of the enemy, which meant there was only one thing to do, and that was eliminate her, and her gang, down to the very root.
Even before he had gotten out of the maze, he had been considering how to approach this situation. Much like the Hunter's gang that served under the Adventurer's Guild, Ebony Alliance was primarily made up of Adventurers, awakened who risked their lives in the swamps to the east of the city. It was terribly dangerous territory, filled with poisonous insects and plants and dangerous beasts, always looking for their next meal. The result was that the gang's official members were battle-hardened and dangerous, a force to be reckoned with.
Gero herself was a powerful warrior, and had only been outmatched by Cynen because the Grave Walker Guild Leader had acquired the other half of Lesrak's Flame. As far as Garrett saw it, there were two options. The first, and by far the simplest, was to simply eliminate the Ebony Alliance completely. Garrett was confident that this could be done, though it would be a hard fight, and the potential for things going wrong was high. On top of that, to truly eliminate the gang, he would be forced to reveal a number of his secret forces.
The other option, of course, was to begin taking them over slowly, extending the network of Dream Flowers into their territory, and infecting the awakened one by one. This was a much slower avenue, but one that would yield tremendous results if he could actually carry it out. The problem, of course, was Gero herself, as she was simply too strong for Garrett to plant a Dream Seed in her. After becoming a Shaper, Garrett had found it fairly simple in lighting level awakened, but the condensed energy contained in a Shaper stage soul spark was simply too much for the Dream Flower seeds to survive.
Deciding to think on it a little bit more, Garrett returned to his bedroom to lie on his bed, and a moment after he closed his eyes, he was sitting on the Dreamer's throne. Reveling in the warmth of the energy the throne exuded, Garrett let his mind drift.
Many pinpricks of light surrounded him, each one representing one of the flowers planted around the inn. His overlord flower, Somnia, had taken over sorting the information and had done a tremendous job, allowing him to digest everything that had happened in the last 24 hours. Once he had caught up on everything going on with the Klein family, Garrett stood up from the throne and left his room, appearing in Dreamer's Rest, the strange inn that existed in his mental space.
It was just as bustling as usual, and it had actually expanded once more. It was almost impossible for Garrett to wrap his mind around how the inn actually worked, as there were currently close to six thousand people present in it. The inn appeared to be a massive room, yet at the same time, it was clearly divided into a number of smaller spaces. These rooms mixed together to join and separate as needed, and the only thing that was consistent was the bar in the middle.
The overwhelming majority of people in Dreamer's Rest were mortals, unawakened who had found their way to the inn through their dreams. They used it as a place to communicate with each other, to talk about their lives, to share struggles, and develop solutions. There was a section where merchants could cut deals, another where a group of local blacksmiths had gathered to talk about techniques over their pints, and still others where different groups gathered together to engage with others who shared like interests.
The awakened who did come to the bar, would all eventually filter into the VIP section above the stairs. Garrett had arranged it so that only the awakened could see the stairs, leaving the mortals below completely unaware that there was another part to the bar. Here, the awakened would be able to take missions, venturing out from the bar to the city outside.
Garrett had just begun to walk up the steps when he sensed an unfamiliar presence. Immediately, his gaze sharpened, but he didn't stop walking and soon arrived at the top of the wide staircase. There was a large circular table that always had enough seats for however many awakened had shown up that night, and he saw Pax, Kinsley,Maren, Estelle, and Asher all sitting together, chatting quietly. When Pax saw him, she leapt up and walked over.
"You said you wanted to see us?" she asked, her voice full of life.
Seeing her reminded Garrett of Viper, causing his heart to twinge.
"Yes," he said softly. "I'd like to issue you a special mission. I'd like you to head south until you find the water, and I'd like you to try and figure out how to cross it."
Considering his request for a moment, Pax nodded.
"Alright," she said, "we'll report what we find."
As she went to gather the rest of her team, Garrett turned his attention to a figure sitting in the corner. There were a few tables set along the side of the VIP section, arranged there for people who wanted to have private conversations. A robed figure sat at one of the tables, an untouched drink in front of him. Unlike most of the awakened who entered this space, however, Garrett could tell that the robed figure had no soul spark. Yet even without it, the energy that surrounded them was thick and heavy, causing a suspicion to flash through Garrett's mind.
Strolling over to the table, he was unsurprised to see the figure rise and bow, "Greetings, great ruler."
Before the figure could continue, Garrett held up his hand, forestalling whatever else they had intended to say.
"This is not the place for that conversation," Garrett said. "Follow me."
Walking past the table, he headed straight for the wall, which had suddenly transformed into an archway. There was a simple room beyond it, with a dais, and an ornate-looking chair. Without waiting to see if the robed figure would follow, Garrett entered the room and sat down, watching as the robed figure walked hesitantly in after him. With a wave of Garrett's hand, the wide doorway transformed back into a wall, sealing them in together.
"Forgive me," Garrett said, in a voice that made it clear he didn't actually care if he was forgiven or not, "but I don't like unannounced visitors."
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"Completely understandable."
As he spoke, the figure took down his hood, revealing a pale face. It was the face of a man, with strange black marks on his cheekbones, chin, and forehead. Two crimson eyes stared out at Garrett, unblinking, and when the man spoke, his lips and chin barely moved, almost as if his face was actually a mask.
"My most sincere apologies for coming uninvited, but considering your relatively new ascension to your position, I simply couldn't find anyone who could introduce us."
Executing a sweeping bow, the robed man continued, "My name is Karn, purveyor of eclectic goods. I travel the realms, exchanging oddities and collecting tidbits."
"You're a traveling merchant," Garrett asked, resting his cheek in his palm as he lounged in his ornate chair.
"You might call me that," Karn responded, straightening up. "Others might call me a tinker, as I have a wide variety of skills. Mostly, however, I share about the world outside your realm. After all, as a great ruler, it can be particularly hard to find time to travel."
The longer Garrett looked at Karn, the more curious he found him to be. It was clear that Karn wasn't human, but he wasn't quite a spirit either, meaning that he was likely some sort of third race, something that Garrett had never encountered before. Even as Garrett stared at Karn, Karn was staring back, naked curiosity in his eyes.
Seeing that Garrett wasn't saying anything, Karn continued, "First, congratulations on your ascent. It is exceedingly rare to find humans in the dream, especially ones who have ascended to a realm. Your achievement is worthy of praise."
"Thank you," Garrett said, his voice calm.
"In light of your tremendous achievement, allow me to offer you a gift."
Karn slowly reached into his cloak, his eyes fixed on Garrett, as if expecting Garrett to stop him, but Garrett didn't move, continuing to lounge in his chair as he watched Karn, seemingly without a care in the world. As slowly as he had put his hand into his cloak, Karn drew it out, holding a rolled-up scroll, nearly three feet long.
"May I approach?"
Looking every part the ruler, Garrett raised his hand with languid grace and gestured for him to come forward. From the cautious way that Karn walked forward, it was clear that he had dealt with some unpredictable rulers before. And after placing the scroll down on the dais, he quickly retreated to what he considered a safe distance.
Garrett twitched a finger and the scroll flew through the air to land in his hands. He carefully examined the scroll, but it didn't seem to be dangerous. And so he sat up and unrolled it, revealing a detailed map of the city, labeled with half a dozen locations marked in red. When he saw that his inn was one of them, Garrett's eyes narrowed and he looked up at Karn.
"Is this a map of the city?"
"It is, your majesty. This map marks each of the territories of the active great rulers. If you focus on one of the territories, you'll see its area of influence, including any other territories that are connected."
Sure enough, when Garrett examined the location of the inn on the map, a faint light shone around the parts of the city under his control, and the first tomb appeared underneath the royal graveyard. A glance across the map showed Garrett that there were five other active rulers. But rather than examine them now, he rolled up the scroll and held it in his hands, nodding to Karn.
"My thanks," he said. "This is quite a valuable gift."
"It is my pleasure, your majesty."
Much more interested in what Karn might have to offer after seeing the map, Garrett leaned forward on his chair.
"Tell me, you said you deal in oddities and tidbits. What is it that you trade for those things?"
"Other oddities and tidbits, of course," Karn said, his locked-up mouth suddenly flashing into a wide grin before returning to its original state.
The sight of Karn's teeth caught Garrett off guard, but he refocused his attention and asked for more clarification. Producing a book from his robe, Karn thumbed through it to a page near the back and then turned it around so Garrett could see.
"For example, I understand that you have just completed a ruler's war. Successfully, in fact. Once again, my congratulations. If, during that time, you happen to have run across any artifacts that you don't feel will be useful to you, I am happy to take them off your hands for an appropriate price."
Garrett's eyes narrowed as he stared at the pages revealed in the book while Karn spoke. Pictured there were two items, an obsidian casket and a long staff with what appeared to be a bone hand on the end. These were two of the artifacts that Garrett had looted from the first tomb after killing Agma-Yoth, and while he couldn't currently control them, he didn't fancy giving them up to a stranger either.
“Those items are not for sale,” Garrett said. “Out of idle curiosity though, if I were to trade them, would I suddenly find them in the hands of my enemies?”
Karn didn’t answer immediately, clearly weighing his words with what he understood of Garrett before he replied.
“Though it’s unlikely that a thing like this would happen, I can’t say it never has. I would be lying if I claimed that I have never played two sides of the same conflict in order to maximize profit. After all, I am a merchant. Of course, if you wanted to ensure that something of that nature wouldn’t happen, you could always add that to the conditions of sale. Just recognize that everything has a cost and will be factored into the final price I am willing to offer.”
Regarding Karn with a dispassionate gaze, Garrett suddenly smiled and pointed the rolled up map at the merchant.
“I assume that you have prepared something that you think will tempt me, and I’m curious what it is. Let’s see how well you did your research.”
Karn’s wide smile appeared again and he spread out his arms, bowing to Garrett who felt a fluctuation of mental energy as three items appeared floating in the air in front of him. Each was surrounded by a faint energy that pulsed slightly as Garrett focused on them. The three items appeared to be a chipped dagger made from a claw the length of Garrett’s forearm, a twig, and a bead that flashed with faces that revealed all sorts of emotions.
“You are correct, your majesty. I’ve brought three items for you today, each that I believe will help you solve a problem you face. The first is the Bead of Souls, an artifact of unimaginable history said to have belonged to the god of death himself. This bead carries a countless number of souls harvested throughout the ages and can be used to feed to any artifact that requires souls to activate. This was an item that Agma-Yoth desperately wanted, but alas, I arrived too late to sell it to him. His loss, however, is your gain. With the Bead of Souls in your possession, you’ll be able to satiate the dreadful appetite of Lesrak’s tools.”
The entire time he spoke, Karn examined Garrett’s face for any sign he was tempted, but Garrett was wearing a mask, and nothing could be seen from it.
“The second item,” Karn continued smoothly, “is a twig of unknown origin. It contains a nigh endless vitality and its effect is simple. If you feed it to any plant, they will experience explosive growth that will change its very nature, allowing it to pass that same vitality on to its offspring.”
He paused, but still Garrett didn’t move so he could only continue.
“And finally, the most important item in my offering today, the Primordial’s dagger.”
When Karn stopped his explanation after stating the name, Garrett finally looked interested, leaning forward to examine it more closely.