Despite his words, the group needed time to recover from the battle with the 0M3G4 W34P0N before they went anywhere. While they hadn’t directly taken a lot of damage, the process of merging with Nivian’s Aspect had been more strenuous than any of them had realized until after the fact. A kind of deep exhaustion had set in, like a marathon runner would feel after the adrenaline of winning a race faded.

Luckily, the raid party had the perfect solution for that problem – Nivian’s stew.

Despite probably being the most tired out of all of them – and the one, other than Hiral, who’d used the most solar energy – the Death Knight got out his stew pot and his apron, and proceeded to feed everybody. The hour it took to prepare, serve, and eat the food was exactly what the team needed. Most simply sat and chatted quietly, while Wule, Gran, and Yully went around to make sure there wasn’t any healing that needed done.

After the food and recovery – and Hiral getting his solar energy back under control from using his Rune of Eclipse – he looped his scarves around the group and began the journey back. Thanks to the spatial expansions Tomorrow had put inside her Cradle, the distance was much longer than it looked, but they’d taken the route a few times at this point.

It was somewhere between two and three hours after they’d gotten the message from Elezad that they returned to the camp, a now-complete wall standing guard around it.

“That’s… actually kind of impressive,” Yanily said as Hiral released the raid group to look at the wall. Sentries stood at the ready along the top – many of them paired with Seena’s Brass Cannons – while new weapons looked to have been installed in other places. Some kind of large crossbow or small ballista, and fitted on a swivel.

The feeling Hiral got from the weapons put them firmly in C-Rank, as were the people manning them.

“I feel a lot better seeing that,” Ilrolik said. “It looks sturdy.”

“And it’s been tested already,” Left added. “Look over there.”

As the party turned off to the far corner where the double pointed, they found a large group of people harvesting the remains from what had to have been a beast wave. And, now that Hiral was looking for it, he could see evidence of damage to the walls, though solar energy within them was already working on repairs.

Self-repairing walls? Nice function to have.

“Welcome back!” a voice called from the top of wall in front of them. “We’ll crack the gate for you to come in. Beast Wave just finished about an hour ago, and sometimes we see stragglers. Should be clear now, though.”

“We could just hop the wall, couldn’t we?” Yanily asked quietly.

“Look at them, Yan,” Seeyela said just for the parties’ ears, eying the people along the top of the wall. “Look how proud they are of the wall – the camp – they’re defending. Us jumping over all that would be dismissive of the work they’re putting in.”

“I didn’t mean it like that…” Yanily said. “But, you’re right. Not like another minute will kill us.”

As he said the words, he, Hiral, Left, and Right all turned to check to see what was sneaking up behind them.

Nothing, this time, and they all chuckled.

“I knew I shouldn’t have said that as soon as the words were out of my mouth,” Yanily said. “Guess we got lucky this time. No problems sneaking around to bite us in the ass.”

“This time,” Hiral agreed.

They didn’t get the chance to continue the small talk, with the one of the two large doors making up the gate in front of them swinging inward. It didn’t go far, just wide enough for somebody to walk through – even a big Shaper – before somebody poked their head out.

“Portcullis already up?” the younger woman asked. “That’s convenient. Hey! It’s you guys! C’mon in.” The woman stepped out, waved excitedly for the to follow, then darted back in through the space between the doors.

“She seems chipper,” Wule said.

“The power of youth,” Ilrolik said. “I remember being like that, once.”

“You were never like that,” Loan said. “Smiling? Hah!”

“Don’t make me throw you through the door,” Ilrolik said. “And I don’t mean the opening between them.”

“See, that is how you’ve always been,” Loan said, but then put his higher Dex to good use by quick-stepping out of the other Shaper’s reach and into the fortress grounds.

The others followed behind, and were greeted by an absolutely bustling camp. There was activity practically everywhere, with more harvested monster parts over by the crafting building, work being done on the catapults, what looked like three new buildings being started from schematics, and a number of the tents getting moved. None of this even accounted for the people practicing in the training yard, lined up at the raid interface, or the – what looked like – new notice board on the side of the main keep.

A dozen questions formed in Hiral’s head at everything going on, but it was one of the new building footprints that really drew his attention. This thing – whatever it was – was huge. Almost as big as the main keep itself, a large section of tents had been moved to put this building safely in a back corner. Even more interesting was what it seemed to be getting made from.

Brass.

“Hey, hey!” the woman who’d let them in said, practically bouncing in front of the party. “Have a good trial? See any exciting places? Beat up any baddies? Get good loot?”

With each question the woman asked, she darted side-to-side about six feet at a time in front of the group. And, every time she did, Hiral felt a build up of solar energy within her, as if her class was turning movement into power. On the ground, a small, horned rabbit zipped along beside her.

A Bonder? C-… no, new B-Rank. Advanced class too, from the energy.

“Polis,” Romin said. “What did I tell you about asking so many questions before you got at least one answer?”

“Cutie-Pie-Romin!” the woman – girl? – said as if she hadn’t noticed him before. “Look at me, look at me! I’m catching up! Just got B-Rank, and my own advanced class. True-Bonded Runner. Wheee!” As if to prove why she got such a class, she literally ran in in a circle in front of the group. And, to be fair, she was fast. Fast enough she’d put most B-Ranks to shame. “Remember what you promised! Don’t you dare say you forgot!”

“What did you promise?” Seena asked the Bonder quickly turning red beside her.

“To go on a date with me!” Polis said. “He said he would when I caught up to his Rank, and look at me…” She ran another circle. “I caught up!”

“We’re just about to go get A-Rank,” Romin started. “Which means…” A white, armored hand fell on his shoulder as Seeyela appeared beside him, and his mouth paused mid-sentence.

“Don’t play with a young lady’s heart,” Seeyela said. “And don’t make promises you’re not willing to keep.”

Wallop snuffed beside them, though it somehow sounded like a shaky, yeah, what she said… gulp?

Clearly resisting rolling his eyes at his companion, a steely look came over Romin’s face.

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

“You’re right, of course,” the Bonder said. “I did promise, and Polis lived up to her end of the agreement. It’s only right I live up to mine. I just… didn’t expect her to get there so quickly.”

“I do everything fast,” Polis reminded him.

“You also run into danger too fast,” Romin said. “I’d hoped you’d stay safe a little longer.”

“Me and Bun-Bun can’t protect you if we’re too weak!” Polis said, and the pair did a full circle around the raid party in less than a second.

It also definitely wasn’t Hiral’s imagination that the Bonder pair was building more energy the more they ran.

Snuff, Wallop ‘said’.

Sniff, Bun-Bun ‘replied’.

Then the two companions wandered off together, the rabbit running circles around the small Rune-o.

“She is going to be surprised when she loses that race,” Romin said with a shake of his head.

“You think she can lose?” Polis asked him.

“They’re racing?” Yanily said, clearly trying to understand what was going on.

“I think she doesn’t understand he’ll happily cheat,” Romin said.

“Why don’t you two go see how that goes,” Seena offered. “We don’t need everybody to go crowd around and see what Hiral’s dad wants us for.”

“Same goes for the rest of you,” Hiral said. “Except for maybe Ilrolik and Nivian. You two – and Seena – should probably come with me.”

“Of course,” Nivian said.

“We all ate before we came back anyway,” Wule said like it was the most important thing.

“Hold off on the advanced classes until we talk to Dad,” Hiral said.

“You just want the evolutionary inspirations,” Yanily said.

“Damn straight I do,” Hiral said. “And… we may want to clear a big enough space for the six of you to all go at the same time.”

“I’ll start getting that arranged,” Loan said, his head turning to Sera. “I take it you’re going with Hiral to see your husband.”

“He is hard to get any time with,” Sera said. “So, yes. Then to find Nat and Milly, if they’re back.”

“Since we reached our goal of getting everybody to level twenty and with advanced class options, we don’t need to rush right back out,” Hiral said. “Take some time to unwind. I don’t think we’ll still be around for another beast wave – since it sounds like one was just here – so we probably won’t be able to get that achievement.”

“Somebody around here should’ve gotten it,” Yanily said. “I’ll see if I can find out what the reward is for it. Might be worth stick around for.”

“Sounds good, thanks Yan,” Hiral said. With that, everybody had a few more short words with each other, then headed off in separate directions.

Hiral, his doubles, the party leaders, and Sera of course went to the main keep, where they found another large Shaper leaning against the wall near the door.

While he was just as powerful looking as the average shaper, there was somehow more bulk to him. Like a particularly large barrel had sprouted arms and legs, along with nearly a million different muscles to go with them. The usual robe-like outfit Shapers wore – tight at the waist, and loose on the legs and chest, with openings to access tattoos or slide off the shoulders entirely – was stretched to the limit of the fabric. He also stood almost a foot taller than even Loan did.

“Ebidi?” Ilrolik asked as they approached. “That is you! When Elezad told me you’d come down, I half thought he was trying to pull one over on me. Just like when you told me you couldn’t come down in the first place.”

At the name, Hiral’s memory of the big Shaper clicked into place. He’d been in the prison with Ilrolik and the others when Seena’s group had rescued them – along with Dole – and had fought at Vorinal’s tower. Before that, he’d been prominent in the Amphitheatre of the Sun as quite the brawler. A powerful B-Rank Shaper, and definitely somebody they wanted in the Cradle.

“Work for the council,” Ebidi said, pushing himself off the wall to come over and clasp hands with Ilrolik. “You know how it is. One of them says jump and they expect us to ask how high?”

“I’m on the council,” Ilrolik reminded him.

“My point stands.”

“You’re as bad as Loan…”

Ebidi looked around, his height clearly giving him an excellent vantage. “Where is that guy anyway? He owes me a spar.”

“Working on for something for a council member. Me,” Ilrolik said with a chuckle.

“Ah, pity. I could use the workout against somebody who can at least put up a fight,” Ebidi said.

“I’ll spar with you,” Right said from beside Hiral. “Always wondered how I’d match up against the self-proclaimed Bull of the Sun.”

“Hah, self-proclaimed?” Ebidi laughed. “The crowd chanted my name for me. I didn’t need to…” he trailed off as he looked at Right. Then Left. Then Hiral.”

“No, we’re not in a band,” Left answered before the Shaper could ask.

“Wouldn’t care if you were,” Ebidi said. “Music is boring unless it’s there to compliment a big fight.”

“Boss music,” Seena mumbled. “Yanily would love this guy.”

“I’ve seen you somewhere before,” Ebidi continued, ignoring Seena’s comment.

“I’m Elezad’s son,” Hiral said. “I’m not famous like you, but you probably heard of me. Or at least my nickname.”

“Oh, Hiral?” Ebidi asked, surprisingly not using his Everfail name. “Right. Right. Loan’s student. The one he never stops talking about. Look at you. All… three of you? But, no, that’s not it. Not where I know you from… where was it…?”

“What are you even doing loitering out here?” Ilrolik asked. “Waiting to steal somebody’s lunch money?”

“Pretty sure it was you stealing my lunch money when I was kid,” Ebidi said.

“You were a runt. Needed motivation,” Ilrolik said.

That made everybody pause as they tried to imagine the giant in front of them as a runt.

“Elezad wanted to see me,” Ebidi said, referring back to the other Shaper’s earlier question. “Asked for me a while ago, but I was out running some of these trial things with me new raid group. Interesting set up, all that. You do many of them?”

“Just got back from some,” Ilrolik said.

“Seem like good experience,” Ebidi said. “Making much progress?”

Ilrolik smiled, and there was definitely a hint of smugness on the older lady’s face. “After we’re done in here, we’ll be ranking up to A.”

Ebidi paused as he digested the words. Then he stepped forward and slapped his big hands on the woman’s upper arms. “Good for you!” he practically bellowed, causing passerby’s to jump at the volume of it. “Well deserved! If anybody should be A-Rank, it’s you!”

“Not just me,” Ilrolik said. “And, I won’t be the first breaking through.”

“Loan?” Ebidi asked. “Don’t tell me he did it too?”

“He did,” Ilrolik said, but then nodded toward Hiral. “Elezad’s boy – Loan’s student – he’ll be the first A-Rank.”

“I will?” Hiral asked.

“Not only did you get to B-Rank-twenty first,” Ilrolik said. “But none of this would be possible for the rest of us if you hadn’t done what you did on the surface. Like your class says, you’re the Vanguard. You go first.”

“The surface!” Ebidi suddenly said, like they weren’t all on the surface as they spoke. “That’s where I’ve seen you. I remember the outfits. You have a skeletal bird-lizard thing, don’t you?”

“A skeletal…” Hiral started. “A dracolich? You mean Drake?”

“Dracolich?” Ebidi said. “Huh, I guess it did kind of look like a dragon. So it was you there.”

“Was me where?” Hiral asked, no idea where he would’ve seen Ebidi with Drake around. It wasn’t like the man was on the surface when Seeyela had been kidnapped by those Makers.

“That city,” Ebidi said with a snap of his fingers. “No idea what it was called. Empty though. Other than the dry corpses and the creepy vines. Saw you out the window. You looked like you were leaving to go somewhere.

“Ilrolik wasn’t there with you. Neither was this guy,” Ebidi looked at Nivian. “Nice to meet you. Ebidi, the Bull of the Sun.”

“Nivian,” the Death Knight replied.

“She was there too,” Ebidi said to Seena. “Ebidi.”

“Seena,” she introduced, but her face was screwed up like she was trying to figure out where they’d met before too.

Wait. City. Dried out vines. No Nivian, but Seena was there…

“The undead city?” Hiral said. “You saw us there? Connected to the broken Asylum from the zone with the Endless Tunnels and those dungeons?”

“Yes!” Ebidi said, barking out a laugh like he was relieved to have finally figured it out.

“What were you even doing there?” Hiral asked at the same time the keep’s door opened and Elezad poked his head out.

“Down there on council work,” Ebidi said. “Like I was telling Ilrolik before, and what Elezad here probably was going to ask me about. Had a few jobs, and that was the first one.”

“Council work? What kind of council work brought you to the undead city?” Hiral asked, something in his gut starting to do small flips.

At the question, Ebidi’s face turned a bit more serious.

“Not sure if I should tell you…” the big Shaper said. “Council business.”

“You can tell him and me,” Elezad said, coming out put his arm over Hiral’s shoulders.

“If you say so,” Ebidi said, voice dropping so not everybody walking past would hear him. “We went to secure a dangerous item. Me, my team – or party, as they’re calling it now – and the councilman.”

“And, this was just after Vorinal’s tower and everything happened there?”

“Pretty much,” Ebidi said. “Right when we started putting together mixed-member parties.”

Oh, no, no, no…

“What kind of dangerous item?” Seena asked.

“A vase or something,” Ebidi said. “Apparently it was some kind of really powerful weapon that could wipe out the whole island, and it was just left lying there.”

“A vase… or an urn?” Hiral said.

“Yes, yes! That’s what he called it. An urn.”

“It wasn’t just lying there,” Seena said.

“No, it was in some kind of crystal,” Ebidi admitted. “Still, we just picked it up and that was that.”

“And you brought a member of the council with you?” Elezad asked. “Why would a council member – other than Ilrolik – ever go on a surface mission?”

“He had the Trunk of Asinef,” Ebidi said, like that answered the question.

“It’s a storage space tattoo,” Hiral explained quickly. “Like our Interspatial Rings. And he still has the urn right now? With him?”

Ebidi shrugged. “Maybe? It’s not like I’ve run into him to ask.”

“Who?” Seena asked, even the little lich on her shoulder looking pale at the thought of the urn being unaccounted for. “Who has the Urn of Ur’Thul?”

“Councilman Olimpas,” Ebidi said. “You… don’t look happy with him having it. He should be around here somewhere, why don’t you ask him?”

“And that’s a problem,” Elezad said, his arm stiffening over Hiral’s shoulders. “The whole reason I called you back was because Olimpas has gone missing.”