The town square had almost completely filled with people as Karrol Stir led us away, and the looks that Cuby and I kept receiving from the townsfolk—glances that turned into double-takes of sudden recognition—suggested that word had spread about our role in the fighting.
But soon we were out of the crowd, and our new companion led us down a narrow step and through a sub-level doorway into a house that had been carved into the rock.
“I rented a small space in this house for storage and sleep,” said Karrol Stir, leading us down a narrow stairway and into a large cellar filled with casks. He gestured for Cuby and I to put our chest down near a few similar chests that had been tucked in one corner, then pointed to one of these. “That one is empty, if you want to store your things in it. You can search the others and take what you think you need—there are a few things I can give you now. Pants first.”
It was a strange sight, watching him materialize two sets of pants into midair when I knew he hadn’t even physically opened the container they’d come from. He passed an identical gray pair to each of us:
Uncommon Equipment – Reinforced Trousers of Resistance
These thick wool trousers are plain and functional. Golden thread has been embroidered into runes along their waistband, increasing their wearer’s resistances.
+ 2 Divine Resistance
+ 2 Magic Resistance
+ 2 Physical Resistance
+ 2 Psychic Resistance
“Not bad,” I said, equipping them in place of the roughspun trousers that I’d been wearing since I woke up.
“I also don’t want to die, and like resistances,” said Cuby.
“I didn’t collect many healing potions,” said Karrol Stir. “Only when I could buy them very cheap, usually from healers—and those that I did buy I mostly sold. Here.”
He gave us two more potions, and Cuby split them with the ones we had—three from the loot, and one that was already in her inventory, so that we each had 3. I took the mana potions, too, bringing my total count up to 9. 9 potions that restored 250 mana each—out of my 1220 total Energy.
“Take these, Alatar,” Karrol Stir said, passing me some gloves:
Uncommon Item – Clever-Finger Gloves
These soft kidskin gloves have been enchanted to increase your Celerity.
+ 4 Celerity.
“Don’t mind if I do,” I said, equipping them after letting Cuby take a look. I held up a gloved hand and flexed my fingers, made a fist.
“And for you,” Karrol Stir said, nodding to Cuby. “Probably my best find yet.” And he produced a small object—a plain silver ring.
“Ooh,” Cuby intoned, taking the ring. “Look, Alatar!”
Uncommon Item – Simple Silver Ring of Power
This plain silver band has been enchanted to increase your Power.
+ 6 Power
“Very nice!” Cuby said, holding up her own hand to examine it.
“A ring is more likely to stick around for longer without being replaced,” said Karrol Stir. “You need to get two more rings to even have to consider it. I can’t imagine these will serve anyone better than you.”
“Probably not,” said Cuby.
“Here,” he said. “This key will open my other chests. I have the only other copy.”
He gave me the key.
“We’ve only got one key for our chest,” said Cuby. “I’ll leave it with you. You’ll sell this stuff for when we return, right?”
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Karrol Stir nodded.
“Good,” she said. “There’s a few things we should still try getting—bombs, power cells, and Alatar wants to look for some spells. But we should be leaving as soon as possible.”
“Are you truly in that much of a hurry?” he asked.
“Definitely!” Cuby said, smiling.
When she offered nothing more by way of explanation, I said: “Haroshi’s people have probably spent the whole day and night farming to get both the equipment and the levels they needed to attack the town. Which means—”
“What?” Cuby asked suddenly. “Alatar, that’s ridiculous. They probably spent the whole night killing monsters for—oh. You meant “farming” figuratively.”
“Yes, Cuby. They farmed materials and XP. My guess is that they’ll make camp soon. What’s more, players might defect from Haroshi because the attack was a failure that left a lot of them dead. The faster we’re on them, the more we can take advantage of whatever happens: whether they make camp or break up, whether they go after Mirrakatetz or go someplace else.”
“Do you think you’ll be able to find him?” Karrol Stir asked.
“My Heightened Sight has been working well to spot people in the dark so far,” I said. “But I don’t know about spotting people on the slopes at night. Let’s hope his group is big enough that they’re not hard to find or follow.”
“We can take the Tracking skill,” said Cuby. “And you ought to take Sneaking, but let’s figure that out when we meet back up to leave. You’ve got to get to the observatory. Do you think they’ll sell to you, this late?”
I shrugged. “Miradel is dead. I don’t know about the assistant, Anoth. But everyone is awake. We’ll see.”
“I’ve got to get some supplies for more bombs—concussive bombs especially.”
“I will go and speak with some townsfolk,” said Karrol Stir. “I will try to find you two a map of the area, and a compass, and ask for whatever else they might supply—hopefully some of them will be amenable to assisting you two, when all things are considered.”
“Sounds good,” I said. “Meet back here, or in the square?”
“The square, I think,” said Cuby. “By the fountain.”
I nodded, then left by the stairs. Once I was outside I used my Mighty Leap to gain some air and start gliding toward the observatory, but by the time I was halfway there, I spotted something: Anoth, Miradel’s assistant, was walking through the streets toward the square, a small wooden crate in his arms.
I landed in front of him. “Anoth,” I said. “Do you have a minute?”
He just stared at me for a moment, his eyes wide, his expression ragged. It was obvious that he’d been crying. “Alatar,” he said. “You….”
But he said nothing more. He just stared at me.
“Anoth,” I said, stepping toward him. “I know this is the last thing you want to be thinking about right now, but it can’t wait. The man who led the attack tonight—his name is Haroshi. My allies and I fought him off at the entrance to the mine, but he escaped. We’re going after him, but we need all the supplies we can get.”
“I saw you,” he said softly. “At the beacon.” His face was still a distant stare, and it was hard to tell if he was really understanding me. “You know that Miradel….” he trailed away.
“I know, Anoth,” I said.
“They brought her up already,” he said, looking down at the crate in his hands. “I’m just bringing some of her stuff….” He bowed his head, and two quiet sobs racked his body.
“I’m sorry, Anoth,” I said, hating for a moment that I was under the effects of the focus potion, that even the pain I felt seeing him suffer like this was dim and distant. “But listen, Anoth: I need your help. If Haroshi and his group gain a few more levels, they’ll come back. I’m going to hunt him down before that happens. I need supplies. I know this is the last thing you want to think of right now, but I have plenty of gold to pay for anything you can—”
“Gold?” he said suddenly, looking up as if that word had snapped him out of his trance. For a moment I was dumbfounded, interpreting his response as some kind of overriding greed. Then he shook his head. “No,” he said. “I saw you save Eleriti at the beacon, you know.”
I thought back to the gnome who had hopelessly engaged the two attackers at the beacon when she’d seen that only one beacon remained. Anoth had been watching?
“Miradel told me….” he paused, took a few deep breaths, then began again: “She begged me not to accept the quest, and so I didn’t. I didn’t flag myself. I just… watched.”
“You’re level 4, Anoth. You’re needed here, now—and Miradel knew that. If you’d engaged, you’d have died.”
“With the rest of them,” he said dully. “Thank you for trying to comfort me, Alatar. I won’t take your gold. Here.”
He took a key out from around his neck and passed it to me. “Take whatever you think you can use. Take it all, if you need it. Apart from the cases, there will be something in Miradel’s desk upstairs, always is.”
I took the key. “Thank you.”
“Just kill them all,” he said, his voice all exhaustion, no real anger to the statement. “I didn’t know….” he trailed off, let out another sigh. When he spoke again, his voice broke with emotion. “I didn’t know it would be like this. Initialization. Just kill them all, Alatar.”
Wanting to give him some amount of comfort, I nodded. “I will, Anoth. It’s halfway done already—and we’ll be finishing the job soon.”
With that, we parted ways. I leapt into the air and began to glide toward the observatory. Even through the potion, I had to feel for Anoth: the arrival of the players, initialization, had probably been something that the town had looked forward to, in a way. And it had turned into a nightmare.
Soon, Haroshi, I thought. Soon.