“Alright you lot. Drop yer weapons and keep yer hands in the air. Yer now property of Greith’s Fist.” Said the large bearded man, brandishing his enchanted rifle with ominous intent. “Don’t go throwing yer lives away now.”
Imp bit the inside of her cheek while she examined the situation. The ramshackle campsite consisted of a campfire with four shoddy stools surrounding it. Seven single-man tents were arranged in a semi-circle behind the fire in the room’s corner. Four men stood behind the man holding the rifle, each of them armed with either a pike or shortsword. Lastly was the sodden, goggles wearing man, pulling himself from the water next to her feet.
And there’s my opportunity. She thought.
She kicked her heel backward, catching the man under the chin and forcing his torso upward. She knelt for a fraction of a second and scooped up the man, holding him in front of her and unsheathing a dagger in a single fluid motion. She dug the tip into his neck until it started to barely leak out a trickle of blood.
“Make a move and I murder your man.” She stated confidently.
The hostage sputtered in fear and struggled against her vise-like grip. However, the fat marksman spat out a laugh in reply.
“You think I give a shit about ‘im? Footpads like that are twenty a copper! Kill ‘im if ye wish, Greith’ll pay out the nose for an elf! Not to mention a feisty lass like you.” The man licked his teeth in a lascivious grin.
Imp’s eyes narrowed and she drove the dagger deeper into her hostage’s neck until his convulsions ceased. Two of the brigands in the rear of the room gasped in shock, but the fat man in the front continued to laugh and smacked his rifle against his palm.
“Oh I love it when they got some fight in them! Alright boys, capture the elf ‘n the woman, kill the others if you have to.”
At his command the rear bandits began advancing. Renzen was still too winded to react appropriately as he continued to kneel and heave breaths. The presumed leader of the bandits readied his firearm and leveled it at Imp. She drew her bow and let fly an arrow. The missile landed in the man’s shoulder and he growled in pain, but his fortitude was greater than she anticipated. In retort, he fired the rifle. A beam of light collided with Imp’s left leg far faster than she could have hoped to avoid. The pain was intense. Her body seized momentarily, and it felt as if all of her muscles contracted at once. The leather legguards that covered her shins were burned away at the site of the impact, and her skin burned immediately. She screamed out in pain and fell, her knee bent backwards. Her bow scattered across the tiles as she instinctively reached to inspect her wound.
“Learn to play nice or I’ll take your other leg.” The man growled as he clenched a fist around the arrow embedded in his shoulder. He tore it out with a wince, but did nothing else to stop the flow of blood that followed. Tears streamed down Imp’s face as pain wracked her body. The other bandits had closed around the group now, and Ladd made a futile attempt to fight back against the encroaching mob. Renzen beat a fist into the stone and rose to make a strike against the nearest bandit. His movements were far slower than usual, but his hardened nails still managed to rake a brutal slash through the leather gambeson of one of the bandits.
“Oi that goes for you too, elf!” The leader called out as he fired out another blast from the rifle. The stream of lightning-like energy impacted with Renzen’s chest and he cried out in anguish as arcs of electricity surged about his limbs. Both he and Imp were wholly incapacitated by the blasts, and they spasmed on the floor.
Fury welling inside of him, Kelek shouted and flung his arms outward. Heat surged through his body as miniscule explosions sent marble tiles flying from the floor and careening toward the attackers. One chunk of brick slammed into the barrel of the rifle sideways, causing the gun to fly off into one of the tents. Another piece grazed a pikeman’s cheek, drawing blood, but inflicting no grievous wounds.
“Ah, that boy’s a Harnersser! String him up too! Greith’ll treat us like kings for a haul like this!” The leader yelled before moving to retrieve his rifle.
Kelek was in disbelief at the harmlessness of his spell. He was so accustomed to the boon that a focus provided him, his unaided magic seemed completely toothless. Ladd was swinging his sword aimlessly in an effort to drive back the bandits, but his blows were repeatedly parried until one of them closed the distance enough to disarm him with a well placed blow to the wrist. The assailants grinned with savage delight as they bullied Ladd to the ground, shoving him between themselves with the hafts of their weapons. Kelek turned to where the rifle had landed in the corner of the room and cried out.
“To me!”
At his command the firearm flew toward him, propelled by a similar tiny explosion that sounded with a resonating crack. The suddenness of the action caught the leader off-guard. Though he attempted to snatch the rifle from the air, he was unable to. The gun landed square against Kelek’s chest, winding him. He fumbled to locate the firing mechanism, praying that the design was similar to Dmitri’s that he had seen several times. His forefinger hooked around a trigger near the handle and he aimed the rifle at the group of three bandits standing around Ladd with his arms fully outstretched. As he squeezed the trigger, a diamond encased in glass that had gone unnoticed in the dark ,that rested atop the near end of the barrel illuminated with blinding intensity. The length of the barrel likewise lit up, similar to the previous firings but with a brightness several orders of magnitude greater. The all too familiar sensation of Ether flowed from Kelek’s shoulders into the weapon and unleashed such a powerful stream of energy, Kelek was thrown backwards against the far wall.
The light from the outburst blinded all within the room, and the world seemed to be devoid of sound. Kelek shook his head as his vision unblurred, and his jaw dropped as he observed the aftermath. Where once there were three men, now stood three pairs of smoldering legs. The detached limbs let off wisps of smoke from their flash-cauterized tops as they toppled to the floor. The remaining bandit that was injured by Renzen looked at the scene in shock before abandoning his assault and wordlessly rushing for the doorway at the opposite end of the room. The rifle glowed hot with energy as Kelek let it drop to the floor, unable to process the scene before him.
“Hespora save me, what kind of monstrous Harnesser are you?” The leader said, his prior bravado completely absent.
Kelek looked over to him, hands trembling and unsure just how to answer. The sight was enough to break what little morale the man still possessed, and he prostrated himself.
“Please, just let me go! I’ll forget the lot of ya, Greith’ll never know!”
The remaining bandit had escaped through a doorway behind the groveling man when Imp responded weakly.
“Kelek…My leg… Can you?”
Kelek shambled over to her and appraised her grisly wound.
“Maybe… I lost the staff, but I’ll do my best.”
He placed his hands gingerly around her backwards knee and spoke.
“Heal.”
Warmth ran down his body at his command and flowed into her. She grimaced as the unsettling sound of bone scraping into place sounded from her leg, but if it caused her any more pain, she did not show it. She gave the reset joint a few test bends and seemed satisfied. Drawing her shortsword, she climbed to her feet and made her way over to the cowering man. Kelek looked over toward Renzen, who only waved his hand in a dismissive fashion as he rested on the ground.
“What are you doing here? Why does Greith want Harnessers?” Imp asked as she slid the edge of her shortsword along the fat man’s back. “You’re dead either way. How painfully you get it depends on how well you cooperate.”
Her voice was callous and demanding. She spoke with all the authority of an executioner meting out judgment at the gallows.
“Please ma’am! Mercy!”
Her blade drew forth a stream of ruby blood from beneath the man’s jerkin, staining it dark in the firelight.
“Ahh! The ship! Greith saw that merchant ship got sucked in by The Maw and the wreckage ended up in here! He ordered us to loot it. We jes got here last night. As for the Harnessers, alls I know is he has a standing thousand gold bounty for every one we bring to ‘im. I don’t know what he’s doin’ with ‘em I swears it!”
The man clasped his hands together in a pleading gesture as he begged for clemency.
“Are all of Greith’s men this spineless?” Imp taunted. She flipped the man onto his back with a shove of her boot and brought the same foot down hard on his knee, breaking it.
The man shouted in anguish, but his cries were swiftly silenced by a lengthwise cut across his throat. Imp cleaned the blood from her sword on her elbow before sheathing her weapon and returning to the group. Both Renzen and Ladd had regained their footing and were solemn in countenance.
“On second thought. We may have picked the wrong path.” Renzen said, attempting to break the dreary silence.
Imp offered a low breath of amusement, but an air of despair still clouded the group.
“What exactly is that weapon? How did you do… that to them?” Ladd said as he shuffled away from the mass of tangled legs.
Kelek stepped over to the rifle to examine it closer. It was far more intricately designed than any weapon, firearm or otherwise, he had ever seen before. Gold filigree painted the fine wooden stock on all sides in fleur-de-lis and feather-like patterns. The barrel was constructed of some metal heavier than steel, and had a subtle blue tint. The most striking feature was the apple sized diamond that rested within a glass encasement atop the joining point between the handle and barrel. Renzen picked up the weapon and ran a thumb over the enclosed gemstone.
“Seems like a far too valuable thing to entrust to some bandit. Think they nabbed this from the ship?”
Ladd was investigating the campsite and picked up a slightly waterlogged trunk.
“I think you might be right. This looks like the case it may have came in.”
The box was similar to the trunk Bayin had presented the focuses in. A velvet-lined depression in the shape of the rifle was all that was contained inside.
“Looks like they pilfered a bunch of jewelry and gold besides. Must’ve been one wealthy ship!” Ladd said as he scoured the tents of stolen loot.
Kelek’s hands were clammy, and his lips numb. He turned to Renzen and asked.
“Are you sure you’re ok? I can patch you up.”
“I’m fine. I’ve told you, pain isn’t an issue for me like it is your kind. So long as they don’t hit anything vital, I’ll be fine.”
Renzen pushed the rifle into Kelek’s hands.
“Probably best you hold on to that in case we run into any more unfortunate surprises.”
Kelek stared at the gun. Images of the bandits moments before they were incinerated flooded his mind. Then an image of the gruesome gore put on display by the goblin ambush. After that, he remembered the quivering mass of Ether-mutated flesh that had exploded within the octopus. Each image was accompanied with the horrific sounds of combat; the cacophony of screaming and death knells, and the gut-wrenching stench of blood and viscera. Finally, he was forced to relive the campfire explosion that hosted the deathly ghoul that plagued his nightmares, and Gorral’s lifeless face overshadowed all else in his mind. His fingers slacked and the rifle clattered to the ground.
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“No! This is too much, I can’t keep spreading this much pain! It isn’t right! By my very nature I’m meant to heal others, not harm them. I’m a good person! I… I can’t do this…”
Renzen stood staring at him. A tense few moments passed before Imp sidled alongside Kelek.
“I understand, really, I do. No one wants to hurt people if it can be avoided. But this is the responsibility we all agreed to take on when we joined the Guild.”
“No, no it isn’t! I just wanted to be an adventurer! I joined so I could see new sights and learn how to cast magic! I never asked to murder people! I don’t revel in slaughter like you and Renzen! How can you live with yourselves being alright with all this suffering and death?”
He gestured broadly at the gathering of corpses. Imp clenched her fists and struggled to retain a calm tone.
“Listen. It took me a long time to get over the pain of taking another life. When my parents were kidnapped, something snapped inside me. I realized the world is full of cruel people that have no empathy, and those people will never understand mercy or compassion. I was forced to confront evil people like that, and in all honesty, nothing makes me feel better than ridding the world of scum like that.” She pointed an accusatory finger toward the bandit leader.
“What do you think they would’ve done if we surrendered? Do you think you could have reasoned with them? Do you think they would let us go after a fair deal? No. They would’ve sold us into slavery and worked us to the bone until we fell over from exhaustion or took our own lives in desperation. You aren’t in Barkroot anymore, Kelek. There are evil people all around the world. There are monsters that won’t hesitate to kill you if you so much as look at them wrong. This is just the reality of things. You can’t romanticize the good parts of adventuring and just ignore all of the ugly things.”
Kelek folded his hands into his armpits and shook his head.
“No… We could’ve fled at least. We didn’t need to kill-”
“And then what?” Renzen cut him off. “Let them pillage this ruin and then enslave the next hapless band of travelers they run across? You claim to be a good person, yet you would let evil people do as they please so long as you’re unaffected? You would be the good man doing nothing in the face of injustice?”
“I-”
“If there is one thing I cannot stand, it is a hypocrite. Be a coward if you want. Resign from the Guild and go back to your cozy life in the village, ignorant of the world and both its glories and its faults. But don’t claim to be a virtuous person while clinging to passivity under the guise of fairness. If we continue down this road we will undoubtedly encounter more morally bankrupt bandits and all manner of violent beasts, Bayin has made you well aware of that. I don’t pretend that what we do is right or just, but I do not hesitate to defend myself. If this isn’t something you can reconcile, then you might as well turn around and head home right now.”
Renzen knelt and picked up the rifle, then held it out toward Kelek.
“Or you can accept reality and try to have a meaningful impact on the world.”
Kelek stared at the suspended firearm for several seconds. The ebbing and flowing of the nearby seawater intensified the thick silence around the group. Nearly a full minute had passed before Ladd spoke up from behind Renzen.
“You know, I wasn’t really prepared for just how much violence is involved with this either. I could never even stomach seeing a pig get slaughtered. But with the goblins and, well, these guys; it doesn’t feel… wrong. Renzen and Imp are right, they were bad people. Maybe we aren’t necessarily good guys, but we shouldn’t beat ourselves up over doing what needs to be done. At least that’s the way I see it.”
Tears began to form at the edges of Kelek’s eyes. He saw Ladd as a mirror image of himself. The young Aursol boy was woefully outclassed by every other adventurer. They were both young and inexperienced, yet Ladd had come to terms with the reality of their situation far more quickly than he had. Kelek mumbled a wordless ‘thank you’ toward him, and gripped the stock of the rifle. Renzen gave a small smirk, and Imp embraced both of them in a wide hug.
“Oi, we interrupting something?” A voice rang out from the archway at the opposite end of the room. Dmitri was standing beneath the archway and peering at the group from afar. An Ether-sourced light grew behind him as Bayin’s staff came into view and the remainder of the team shuffled into the encampment. Bayin cast a long gaze over the remains of the carnage and spoke solemnly.
“My apologies for burdening you lot with this. Had I known such dangers were present, I wouldn’t have split our party.”
Imp chuckled and replied. “If you think this is bad, you should’ve seen the oversized eel!”
Bayin nodded in understanding. “Yes, we encountered the bandit that fled from here. He informed me of all that happened.”
“Was he so loose-lipped?”
“Not as such…” Bayin produced his signature pipe and began packing it.
Ladd stepped closer to Imp and said in a wary tone.
“Winds and water aren’t my grandfather’s only talents. He has a remarkable gift for memory manipulation.”
Festus must’ve heard their exchange, as he added.
“Aye, the poor bastard came sprinting by us like a bat out of Hell. Renault caught him with a clothesline and Bayin scrounged his mind to see what was the matter.”
Imp crossed her arms and studied the wizard with a suspicious scrutiny.
“In any event,” Bayin continued. “We are relieved that you are free of mortal injury. Those bandits arrived here on Greith’s orders yesterday to plunder that sunken ship. You’re fortunate that weapon was among the wreckage. Please, let me get a good look at it.”
Kelek consented to the wizard’s request and handed over the rifle. Bayin pored over the weapon with intent. He struck a knuckle against the stock and remarked.
“This is fashioned from Augurbark. Whoever commissioned this must’ve intended to use it as a focus. Combined with the gemstone embedded here, it makes for a powerful spell enhancer. But curiously…”
He thumbed the glass encasement that surrounded the diamond. After a few probing flicks, the entire structure flipped upwards on unseen hinges.
“Aha!”
Bayin delicately pulled on the exposed gem and removed it from its socket. He held it up to his glimmering eyes and examined it as if he were a jeweler.
“This diamond is not meant for Ether amplification; not like the gems in most staves and rods. This was pre-enchanted. I’d wager the protected socket is to allow the wielder to cast spells that are stored within gemstones and swap them out as they are depleted, much like this diamond is now.”
Kelek looked at him in bewilderment.
“Are you saying there was a spell already inside that diamond?”
Nodding, Bayin explained. “Indeed. I have yet to touch on this aspect of magic in your training, but gemstones are useful for more than just augments in a focus. Their natural sensitivity to Ether makes them the perfect candidate for enchantments. The massive blast was not due to a spell you had cast, but thanks to the existing spell that was housed within this gem as a sort of ‘ammunition’ for the rifle. Though I am certain your nature as a Harnesser allowed you to free all of the energy within it at once, unlike poor Eustace over there.”
He shrugged a shoulder toward the corpulent leader of the bandits.
“Eustace?”
“Reading people’s memories burdens one with knowledge as much as it blesses them. If it helps your conscience any, he was a cruel man that delighted in torturing rabbits they would catch in the woods. The world is a better place without the likes of him.”
He didn’t admit it, but knowing that fact did make Kelek feel better about the whole affair. He pondered over Bayin’s explanation of the rifle, and while he was in disbelief, the reasoning made sense. Despite the blast physically recoiling him into the wall, it did not drain any of his own energy like his other spells.
“Will it still work? You said the gem was depleted.”
Bayin scratched his chin, bunching up his long beard around the corners of his mouth.
“You emptied out whatever spell was contained within this gem, but the implement itself should still function as a focus, much like- wait, where is the staff?”
Kelek’s cheeks reddened and he lowered his head in shame.
“I…lost it in the attack from the sea monster… I’m sorry.”
Bayin rubbed his temples with his long fingers and let out an exasperated sigh.
“I suppose the risks of adventuring are unavoidable. Consider this rifle your new focus for the time being. The Augurbark within the handle should provide equal, if not greater amplification than the ruby that was in the staff.”
“Thank you sir. What about the diamond?”
Bayin slid the gemstone into a deep pocket on the interior of his robes.
“It will be of no use to you for magical purposes. Once an object has been suffused with an enchantment, it becomes permanently scarred by that spell. Even after the spell has worn off, the object remains only sensitive to that self-same enchantment. Without knowing the precise spell that was housed within this diamond, it cannot be filled again, and it will not work as an amplifier for anything but said spell. However, I’m sure it can still be of use for vanity in jewelry. Consider it a tax toward the Guild.”
Festus eyed the rifle in Kelek’s hands with unbridled envy.
“Once we’re done here you better be giving me a long look at that piece. Even in Ardor they don’t have anything near that!”
Kelek offered him an affirmative nod and scanned the rest of the room.
“What happened to the cart?”
“Left it at its destination. Bayin wants us all together before moving forward.” Dmitri replied.
The group took a short rest at the appropriated campsite to regain their stamina while simultaneously claiming the best of the looted ship’s treasure for themselves. After every tent and crate was scoured, a bounty of several dozen sapphires, two bars of gold bullion, and an ornate necklace of silver and emeralds was recovered. Festus and Dmitri were quick to bicker over who found what first, but eventually the group settled on a relatively even split of the loot, save Kelek who sufficed with the rifle. Of particular interest to Imp, were the goggles worn by the bandits. Bayin had elucidated that the glass within them was enchanted in such a way that allowed the environment to be seen clearly even in the dark. Renzen had no need of them, thanks to the blessing of his elven vision, but Imp and Dmitri were delighted to claim the two remaining intact pairs.
Spoils claimed, the adventurers set out of the room to where the cart of explosive powder stood flush against an ornamented wall a few hundred feet deeper within the ruins. The room they found themselves in contained little furnishings, but the far wall was painted with an opulent mural. Several gemstones were embedded in recesses throughout the marble, emphasizing points of color. It took Kelek several moments of observation to recall why the strange symbol was familiar, before realizing it was the same inverted caduceus symbol that Bayin had shown him; the symbol of the Ymir.
“Renault, Dmitri, Renzen, please begin lining the barrels along the wall in equal lengths. Festus, I will leave the smaller pieces to your discretion.” Bayin ordered.
Festus rubbed his hands together with giddy glee. He uncovered the cart and lifted a burlap sack that contained several six-inch tubes, each with a small fuse snaking out of one end. With his hammer and chisel, he carved out tiny alcoves in the wall and filled them with the tubes. There was a surgical accuracy in his work. He held his ear close against the wall and ran the chisel along it, stopping upon hearing an irregularity and marking where next to excavate. Once the sack was empty, and all the barrels evenly placed, some stacked on top of eachother, Bayin commanded everyone to step back to the entrance of the room.
“Kelek, I trust you are capable of igniting these?” He asked.
Kelek hesitated. “Probably. It’ll be my first time using this… thing to cast a spell. Will it work just like a rod or staff?”
Bayin opened his mouth to reply, but Festus eagerly cut him off.
“Ah let's not worry about that, I’ve got the perfect igniter right here!” He unharnessed his pistol and leveled it at the mass of explosives. With a wide grin on his face, he fired.
Bayin shouted a cry of warning too late. The bullet left the gun and impacted with a barrel. The resulting thunder of splitting wood and crumbling stone clamored throughout the room. A voracious wave of conflagrant debris rushed toward the group, but was halted by a floor-to-ceiling wall of water that Bayin had managed to conjure just in time. Everyone observed the explosion through the distorted lens of the water as the wall succumbed to the overwhelming force.
“You fool!” Bayin bellowed to Festus over the roaring of water and detritus. The improvised barrier held against the assault, but the remainder of the room was heavily compromised.
“The structure is crumbling, we need to move. Now!” Renzen shouted.
The stones of both the floor and the remaining walls began to crumble around them, and the entire room tilted forward. One-by-one, the group closed the distance to where the mural once stood and jumped across the widening crevasse that had been rent into the floor. More alarming than the missing floor was the hail of rock and stone that plummeted from the ceiling. Several small chunks bounced off of Renaults armor, and both Imp and Ladd received scrapes along their faces. Bayin was the last to reach the precipice, and just as he crossed the expanding gorge, a melon sized boulder collided with his skull.
The wizard went limp, and he nearly fell into the gorge, but Renzen managed to hook his arms beneath Bayin’s just in time. He pulled the unconscious man into the newly revealed room and watched as their prior flooring crumbled into the dark abyss below. The party looked about their spacious new interior. A pale blue light emanated from what appeared to be a large stone box several dozen feet away, an oddity in what should be long abandoned ruins. Curiosity gave way to anxiety as a loud thrumming sounded, and the shifting of stone and metal announced the presence of a towering humanoid figure that stood vigil near the box. The figure took one heavy step toward them that landed with an echoing thud.