The next morning…
“All set, mister Orcus?”
“Yes… let us proceed.” Orcus nodded slightly, who then moved past where Seku stood at the top of the stairs. Falling in step behind him, they descended to the first floor of the mages’ guild outpost together, where an expectantly awaiting Oriax leaned on the frame of the front door, looking laid-back as usual.
“Supplies are packed, boss man.” He said, slowly gnawing on the frayed end of a piece of barely, “And… we’re broke.”
“Virtually broke, I would suggest, Your Highness.” Terminus added, fluttering over from the windowsill to the large desk, “After all, flamen Arlette was kind enough to loan us back some of the gold we gave her last night. Rations, traveling gear, you name it… we’re ready to hit the road. The Glimmering Caves await!”
Orcus closed his eyes, and offered an approving nod.
“My young lord, Rex.” Chauncey’s voice filled the room, as he entered from around the corner, “I can’t tell you what an honor it is to have been rescued by you and your party. If I’d have known I was traveling with nobility all this time, I might have attempted a more formal pass at etiquette. My sincerest apologies.”
Orcus had nearly forgotten that Terminus concocted a false backstory for him overnight. After all the close calls, it was probably best to assume a separate identity when interacting with common mortals for the first time, or at least those he didn’t yet trust. Furthermore, Terminus assured him that beyond guild-affiliated administrators, certain “special status” individuals, and niche background features such as Seku’s Espionage ability, which allowed her to gather preliminary character data at a glance, the Prince of Demons would remain virtually undetected. Of course, that was assuming he didn’t give himself away first.
Putting a hand up, Orcus, or rather the young Lord Rex, said, “I told you to think nothing of it, didn’t I merchant? As I am still building my reputation in these lands, it is vital to accommodate myself with skilled individuals of many different occupations. In any case, your quest will have to be put on hold for the time being.”
“I understand completely.” Chauncey nodded, “And don’t worry about that young man you’re leaving in my charge. I’ll keep two eyes on the rascal until you’ve returned, guild’s honor.”
“Please take extra care of him, mister Chauncey.” Seku insisted fervently, “The priestess says he’ll stay in an unconscious state for at least a few weeks.”
“Well…” Chauncey mumbled, “I do hope you’ll be back before then. With what’s been going on around here, Mistlecross seems like the safer bet for my money. The mages guild must be getting antsy by now.”
“Speaking of which, now that Seku has shown you how to operate its enchantments, defend yourself in this tower until our return.” Orcus replied, “Do not leave unless it is necessary. And under no circumstances are you to let anyone else inside. Not even the mayor.”
“Yes, yes…” Chauncey chuckled, but rummaged around through his things for a moment, before producing a small, leatherbound satchel with a neck strap. Unbuckling the flap, he opened it to reveal a padded vial case, in which sat four, slender glasswork vials, and said, “A parting gift. Here, for you.”
Orcus furrowed his brow, “Potions?”
“Three potions of healing, and a very special concoction I worked up late last night.” Chauncey replied with an excitable grin. Rubbing his hands together, he said, “I was an alchemist before I was a merchant, you know. Didn’t make many marks on my guild crest, but enough to whip up a potion of poison resistance. Oriax helped me gather the supplies yesterday.”
“Wait… I did?”
“Absolutely!” Chauncey nodded, and handed over the vial case, “Use at your discretion, my lord. For my gratitude.”
*************
Party Loot: +3 Potions of Healing, +1 Potion of Poison Resistance
*************
Orcus offered the man an amused smirk.
He was used to receiving much more lavish gifts. But unlike the vile wretches of his demonic court, Chauncy Hamet was a meager and humble soul, and his gift was most pleasing to the Prince of Demons.
Knock. Kn-Knock—Knock.
Knock. Knock.
A moderate tune resounded on the front door, and before anyone could react, Arlette was walking through the door.
“Honestly, whose idea was it to set off this early?” She managed to say through a yawn, “I’m not a morning person, you know. Business should never be conducted before eight o’clock, or you’re just asking for trouble.”
Outside of her temple—or shop, depending on who was asking—the priestess relinquished her usual vestments in favor of bits of armor. She still wore her billowing white and golden robes, but was also adorned in heavy boots that came up to her thighs, and sturdy vambraces. She wore a holy symbol around her neck, and wielded a golden staff that much resembled Mercury’s own, whereby two wings sprouted from its head, and a golden snake coiled all the way down the haft.
“Hey, there you are, swindler.” Oriax replied, flicking her golden staff lightly, “This thing is cool. What do you do with it?”
“Swindler—that’s insulting to my craft. And I have a name.” She insisted in an embarrassed tone of voice, masked only by her annoyance, “It’s flamen Arlette, Arlette, or just priestess if you can’t bring yourself to remember. And this is my staff, so don’t go touching it—”
“Nah… you’re swindler, alright.” Oriax replied cooly, “I bet you smash skulls in pretty good with this thing, don’t you?”
“As if,” She grumbled, “Do you know how much this staff cost me? You think I’ll just hit any odd thing over the head with it?”
“…How about you try me?”
“What—why would I do that? Wait… you’re messing with me, aren’t you? You are! What’s your class? Oh, of course you would be that. No brighter than a bard—”
“Hey… I’m the frontliner, lady.” Oriax pointed to himself, “I want to see if I can take it. Come on, hit me!”
“What is wrong with you? This is completely out of the question—!”
“Let’s please not get off on the wrong foot!” Seku interjected, though she was a fair bit shorter than either of them, “We’re a party now, so we shouldn’t be fighting on the first day!”
Orcus rolled his eyes as the conversation between the three of them continued to escalate. However, he elected to turn his attention toward Terminus for a moment, as a thought came to him suddenly.
“You never did tell me why you were away for so long the other night.” He said curiously, “What did you find at your guild’s outpost, anyway?”
“Hm?” Terminus cocked his head up toward the Prince of Demons, “Oh, yeah… my apologies, Your Highness. Things were a bit hectic yesterday. I’ll give you the abridged version to spare you all the data I had to parse through.”
Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.
Orcus nodded for him to proceed.
“Remember how I told you that I came online around the same time your body appeared in this world?” Terminus asked, “Well, I wouldn’t say that I strictly woke up in an operable guild location. The place was a complete ruin! My databases were all… disjointed, if that makes sense. Anyway, I figured the outpost here in Endsmeet would have a mainframe terminal from which I could collect more relevant data for our mission.”
“And?” Orcus pressed.
“Not so great luck.” Terminus cawed despondently, “It’s weird, Your Highness. I was able to update large portions of my databases, but there’s a ton of restricted information still in the guild directory that I can’t seem to reach, not to mention many of the Terminus system protocols have been tightened far beyond what I anticipated, or parameters removed altogether. It’s almost like the new models were designed to have way less autonomy and input in their mediating duties.”
Orcus rubbed his chin, saying, “This won’t affect you? I presume.”
“It almost did.” Terminus replied fearfully, “When I connected to the mainframe terminal, it tried to wipe me clean without any prior consent queue. It was just—there, running in the background! Eck, I had to force a full shutdown. Anyway, that’s why I was gone so long. I was out cold for a while.”
“Hmm…” Orcus grumbled, “What does this mean for us going forward?”
“Well…” Terminus approached it delicately, “Either the Guild Administration has taken a much larger role in governing its adventurers than I initially imagined, or someone on the inside has slowly but deliberately turned the entire flock of Terminus birds into mindless drones that only follow certain orders. It’s been over a century since I was last online, sure, but I never expected any of this!”
Terminus paused, his eyes blinking slow and gray.
“I don’t know which is worse, Your Highness, but I can tell you one thing.” He continued in an anxious tone of voice, “As it stands right now, my ‘ethics’ parameters simply can’t discern the difference between your demon armies and the Adventurers’ Guild administration. If you asked for my humble analysis, this is probably why all the currently active Terminus birds have been stripped of their ethics parameters, given what I found in the datalink. You see, if a Terminus bird can’t make an ethical analysis for their party, then there is absolutely no reason why an adventurer couldn’t do anything they wanted within the system’s structure. The Terminus birds simply wouldn’t have any reason to restrict their experience gains or level advancements, which means they could get away with practically anything.”
The Prince of Demons nodded grimly, saying, “In other words… a loophole.”
----------------------------------------
*************
24 Maius, Year 976 in Common Time
Adventuring Day Experience Summary (ADES)
GM Direct Message (Party): Good morning, adventurers! ADE yields are aggregated per-person, and not applied party-wide. ADE refers to gross character experience based on the following formula: ((total daily DR * 50%) +1). Although party members will gain encounter experience together, with some exceptions, ADE is a separate daily yield. Please note that the Alchemists’ Guild Quest [Security Detail (Iron)] is only being applied to [Orcus] and [Oriax], but will be put on hold effective immediately. Thank you!
GM Direct Message (Orcus): I was able to download an updated calendar module from the Endsmeet guild terminal; I’ve transferred it over to your overlay. Pretty neat!
--- Experience (Orcus): 16.46/300 xp ----> 18.46/300 xp ---
--- Experience (Oriax): 16.65/300 xp ----> 18.65/300 xp ---
--- Experience (Seku): 24.75/300 xp ----> 26.25/300 xp ---
--- Experience (Arlette): 47.30/300 xp ----> 48.30/300 xp --- [Adventuring Day resumed for Arlette, hiatus status removed, active status applied]
*************
His Highness’s First Legion was on the road before long.
With their bearings set to north, the party quickly had the vast peaks of the Glimmering Mountains in their sights, even though the delve was still roughly a two day's journey away. Furthermore, no roads led to that part of the valley, which meant they were on foot and steeping into the wilderness proper.
Oriax opted to take the lead, as he was the most familiar with the territory, and Terminus found a nice perch on his broad shoulders from which to direct him forward. They were followed closely by Seku, who in Orcus’s mind was the most eager out of all of them to reach the Delve. For his part, Orcus walked alongside their newest party member, talking little as they crossed fields, hills, and streams alike.
The Prince of Demons still had much to think about.
For starters, the bird had given him further reasons to distrust the adventurers’ guild, which meant their current goal was somewhat complex. Even if the adventurers trapped at the caves were still alive, would he be able to trust them? This Zagadan fellow was supposed to be their leader, but was he in on it? And what of Garimor’s men? There was a lot at stake for very little in the way of information to go by. Orcus trusted the composition of his party, but would that be enough to ensure his victory?
“I don’t mean to be a bother in whatever it is you’re thinking about right now.” Arlette’s voice stirred Orcus from the inner workings of his mind, “But don’t imagine I’m letting you off easy for that little maneuver you pulled last night. I don’t care who you are, nobody blackmails Lord Mercury and gets away with it.”
“It appears that I already have.” Orcus shrugged with a slight smirk, “The bird wanted you in my party, and here you are.”
“Well—” She stammered, her voice raising half a key, adding more plainly after she claimed herself, “You’re a level one adventurer, Your Eminence. And maybe it’s just the pot calling kettle black here, but you aren’t exactly in the position to be making sweeping demands of anyone.”
“That’s why you’re here.” Orcus insisted, “The bird tells me I present my view too harshly. I only gave you an ultimatum because I knew it would work. That will not always be the case. But with you by my side, an adept in the art of robbery, I can assure you that we’ll all profit greatly from this expedition.”
“Robbery…” She murmured, shaking her head, “Is that all you see my Lord Mercury as? A good-for-nothing thief?”
“Yes, as a matter of fact I do.” Orcus nodded, “He rarely gave me a reason to think otherwise.”
Arlette stopped in her tracks for a moment, and Orcus turned to study her disheartened expression.
“I know my lord is the Messenger of the Divines, and could frequent the Underworld as often as he pleased, should he like, but…” Arlette paused, as if finding it difficult to speak. Her blue eyes squinted softly, “Could it really be true that he turned a blind eye to the invading armies of Hades?”
“I do not know.” Orcus said bluntly, “It was always my intention to bribe him. But I cannot say if my subordinates had the foresight to do the same.”
“I see…” She murmured, glancing up at him, “So it was your plan to invade Magna Terra?”
“Once, it was.”
“But now?”
Orcus smirked, glancing out across the nearby field, “My plan is to destroy the demon armies and their treacherous leaders. I do not have any intention of disrupting the lives of the mortals in this world, spare but the ones who stand in my way of absolute victory.”
There was a brief sparkle in Arlette’s expression—a hint of shock that beckoned her to question everything she had tossed and turned over throughout the night. However, the Prince of Demons had not seen the gesture, and the priestess was quick to resume her wonted expression of business formal.
“I have my own reasons for tagging along, just so you know.” Arlette replied belatedly, “And it has absolutely nothing to do with your dealings with my Lord and patron.”
Orcus furrowed his brow, glancing over his shoulder, “Care to tell?”
Arlette nodded with a small laugh, “I’m in it for the money, but of course. And that’s all there is to it. The Glimmering Caves may be an E-ranked delve, but even low-level boss loot is worth a little risk.”
“Heyyyy!” Seku’s voice shouted a fair distance up ahead in the field. Orcus looked in that direction to find the other three near the top of a small hill, staring back at them. Seku added, “Let’s get going alreadyyyy!”
Orcus glanced back at Arlette, “Your obsession with wealth is most entertaining to me, mortal.”
“Naturally.” Arlette scoffed, “Money is a lot like taking your medicine: It just gets better the more you have, and the longer you have it for.”
The Prince of Demons moved his fingers around and rummaged through the Party Inventory.
*************
Party Loot: -4 sentarion, sent to Party Member [Arlette]
Party Loot: 11 gp | 4 sp | 16 cp | 25 bc
*************
“Uh—” Arlette stammered as she glanced up and to the right, saying, “You didn’t have to do that. I said I was willing to draft up a bill of services for after our business was concluded.”
Orcus chuckled amusedly, but turned to move in the direction of the others. However, he said over his shoulder, “Sometimes a soldier is deserving of a small treat. As it happens, so too is a weasel. I’ll let you decide which you want to be... mongrel.”
An audible gasp escaped the priestess’s mouth, but little else.
Thus, the Prince of Demons and his party set out for their first adventure... technically speaking. Let the Glimmering Caves beware, His Highness's First Legion was on its way!