On the way to Beast Control, Kaden sent the FalCrow to Ignus Malachor, asking about the Buried City, Faction Quests, and Strike Quests in particular. He couldn’t help the lightness in his step. Part of him recognized the wisdom in Mr. Dervish’s words.
The other part knew that hope was the key.
As Kaden strolled through the open bays of Beast Control, a few workers looked up, but the truth was, no one in their right mind would stop a level twenty five Adventurer. It wasn’t like they had treasures, only Beasts, and while Adventurers would complain, it was almost always easier to pay a fine than to take a beast and risk the City’s wrath.
“Bryce!” Kaden shouted as the [Man at Arms] emerged from the a side hall. “How’s Pest Patrol?”
“Six of mine got the [Soldier] class and enlisted, a bunch of rookies with zero skills. It’s clubs and traps.” Bryce looked him up and down. “Looking strong. I saw the criminals they tested the binding release on. You’re lower level, but way tougher.”
Kaden was not worried. “It won’t matter. I picked up a talent from a Beast at Dervish’s. No sense of pain.”
Bryce had no words, staring at him open mouthed.
“See you around. Gotta get a binding burst.” Kaden headed for the summoning room.
Mr. Dervish stood, having attached the hanging lights to the ceiling so he didn’t bump them, and a medium sized [Milk Spider] had made a web on one side. “Jackie ain’t here, so Milly there will stand in. Same deal as before, we’re going to lock down the circle, tear loose the binding.”
A portal tore open beside Mr. Dervish, and Professor Treadle stepped through. At least, his remains did. He looked haunted, his skin waxy yellow, his eyes sunken. Kaden would have fed him to Trinity in a heart beat if it would undo the binding. He didn’t look to Kaden. “Remember, wait until it’s completely engaged. It only takes a single fiber to re-establish the binding.”
“Got it. Switch the runes.”
Kaden gasped as the runes reoriented to show the bindings.
The awful red still meshed across his soul. But a deep indigo one remained. The [Hatred Mark]. The silver tribulation bond that lashed him to Ashi had grown stronger, the friendship bond with Sara as well. The bond to Trella remained under the red binding.
“Demon mark?” Mr. Dervish asked. “Odd. It should point to you from the Demon. That one seems broken.”
Ashi’s mother. She’d undone the Hatred Mark or modified it. “How can I use it to track the demon?”
“No idea. No idea who you’d ask. Never seen a demon mark behave like that. I paid to have the potion taste better this time. I think.” Mr. Dervish offered Kaden another dose of Kalarak Essence.
It tasted and smelled like cherry flavored urine, but Kaden choked it down. “Do it.”
“Milly, be ready,” Mr. Dervish said, drawing a Legendary binding from Inventory. He drew it out into the cloud of fibers and lashed at the mesh.
Kaden didn’t blink.
“That doing anything?” Mr. Dervish asked.
“I have no sense of pain,” Kaden said, sharing his system logs. “Now, get rid of it.”
He’d never seen a man move that fast. The white threads of Mr. Dervish’s binding whipped outward like billowing waves, each breaking some of the mesh.
A splatter of crimpson whipped through the air.
Without pain, Kaden could only marvel as drops of blood welled up out of his skin.
“It’s working!” Mr. Dervish said. “Hold on! We’re gonna need a healer.”
One last strike—and Kaden gasped as something struck him from behind. He sailed through the air, landing with a wet splat on the stone of the floor of the Summoning Room. Behind him, the barrier arced and flashed, glowing brighter.
The binding was no longer blood red. It had faded to a dark indigo, and the mass of threads had wound itself into a snake-like creature that whipped through the air, striking the barrier and then rebounding.
“Why ain’t it dissapating?” Mr. Dervish roared. “Alive, that’s what that is. And the barrier ain’t going to hold it forever. When it gets out, what’s it going to look for?”
“The closest food sources,” Professor Treadle said. “I didn’t lie to you. The core was a Legendary Binding, but a goddess would resist. A goddess would fight. I needed something intelligent to act as the targeting control.”
The barrier began to crackle and ripple, and the runes flashed.
“Get out of here. We’ll seal it up,” Mr. Dervish said.
But Kaden was lost in a thought. “Where does the other end go? If it’s not attached to me, is it still attached to Trella’s soul?”
“Yes, and we’ll tear it off there, too,” Mr. Dervish said.
Kaden stepped through the barrier. Kept his eyes closed until he sensed it was done. “You said it would find the nearest food source. I wouldn’t want that to be anyone else. And I know what you used as the basis of your binding, because I already have another one.”
“Only a touch of Demon Essence!” Professor Treadle said. “I harvested it from a Demon’s Daughter myself. Just enough to control the rest of the binding!”
Milly the spider leaped on him, tackling the Professor.
Kaden walked out.
He kept walking, no longer interested in anything Dervish or Treadle had to say. He kept walking when the first woman he passed dropped the lead of the moss-covered elephant she led and began screaming.
Like she’d never seen a little blood. His health was down to three hundred. His mana, too, had been drained by the attemped, but Kaden headed to the Mage’s Tower. There, he picked up a scroll left by Ignus.
You have received a Faction Quest: Help Take Back the Buried City - Gnomes did not build this place of treasure and wonders, but they infest it now. Help beat back the gnomes and claim treasures for the Poteri - Reward: XP, Treasure.
You have received a Faction Quest: Blaze a Trail - Gnomes have towers to guard the Buried City. Destroy a tower so your fellow Adventurers can push deeper. Reward - XP, Spell Scroll.
That was more like it. Kaden left the desk clerk trembling and dispatched the [FalCrow] to find where Sara and the others were.
They’d formed up at a private FarPortal in the merchant district, and Kaden headed that way. He passed BirchHaven and wondered, were there visitors there? Maybe, lights blazed high in the grand tree.
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The private FarPortal was in the back yard of a merchant’s villa, and the guard there took one look at Kaden and decided they weren’t interested in asking questions or taking risks.
Sara had change into her armor, Ashi wore normal wraps, and Eve had donned her sparkling white Alpha Robes. Kaden pulled Vip into his soul as he approached. Cutter and her Party stood to the side, waiting impatiently.
“About time you…” Cutter glared at him. “Did you crawl down a sandworm’s throat and then punch your way back up? Eve, you want to stuff some of this blood back into him?”
Eve stared.
Sara stared.
Ashi cursed. “Who did this to you, Kaden Birch?”
At least it wasn’t ‘What did you do?’ Kaden had grown to think that phrase was pure reflex. If Ashi were unconscious, those would be the words her mouth still uttered. “Mr. Dervish tried to break the binding. I borrowed a talent from a beast that doesn’t let me feel pain.”
Cutter slipped a small knife from her Inventory and slowly stabbed him in the chest. The blade snapped off on the metal and fell to the ground. “The good news is, if a gnome hits you, you’re dead whether you’re full health or not. So no need to wait and heal.”
“That is not good news,” Sara said.
“You didn’t tell them my plan?” Kaden grinned, hoping his teeth weren’t stained with blood. “Eve’s going to love my plan. The gnomes are going to hate my plan. Unless you’re on Team Gnome, it’s an amazing plan.”
“Is he always like this?” Cutter asked.
“Yes,” said Sara.
“Yes,” said Ashi.
“He’s usually worse,” Eve said.
And Kaden began to explain.
###
The Buried City stretched in eternal night for as far as Kaden could see. Pillars of pure rock rose from the top of certain buildings, arching up in the darkness, and according to Cutter, people with climbing abilities had climbed for weeks without reaching a ceiling
The FarPortal dispatched them in what Kaden hoped was a safe area, low stone buildings with fallen in ceilings and broken walls and doors. The Poteri were no slouches, a Healer’s encampment nearby offered services in exchange for gnome corpses (or coins) and almost every gnomish treasure could be exchanged at the base camp.
“Cutter Karn,” she introduced herself. “And my Hunting Party.”
The mage reclining in a hammock nodded, and a pen wrote by itself, inscribing their names. “The front line is six blocks west. If you’ve got a Strike Quest, they’ll light up like wandering bosses. We do have a resurrection specialist but it’s been eleven days since someone was resurrected and that guy fell off a third story trying to level some [Wall Crawl] skill, no gnomes involved. Pick up a corpse inventory, a party tracker, and happy hunting.” He closed his eyes and pulled his pointy wizard hat down over his face.
Cutter led them out of camp a few blocks. “Ever hunted gnomes?”
Sara and Kaden raised their hands.
“Keep under cover or keep moving. If you have to hold still, at least dump any good loot out before you do, because there won’t be enough corpse to loot. We’re going to get set up close and test Bloody Boy’s theory.” Cutter waved for her to follow, pointing to a box of simple iron rings.
Kaden slipped one on, and a small counter joined his notifications.
Zero gnomes killed. Zero contribution to kills.
“There’s really no need,” Kaden said, as Eve tried to heal him again.
“I want to. My skills evolved at tier two. I don’t need rats to resurrect anymore, though they make it easier.” Eve prompted him.
[Evelyn (Eve) Black - Priestess of Nurav]
Class: Transfusionist
Profession: Priestess of Nurav
Level: 25
HP: 300
Mana:3000
Skills: Life Endowment (2:1), Life Explosion (2:1), Cooking (2:1), Baking (2:1), Moon Fall (2:1), Life Exchange (2:1), Foraging (2:1), Moon Glow (2:1), Moon Multiplier (7)
Talents: Moment of Perception, Unshakeable, Deathless
Titles: Herald of Entropy
Slotted Recipes: Biscuits and Gravy, Scorpion Steak, Instant Eggs and Bacon, [Mana Salad]
[Life Endowment]
Draw on the power of freshly spilled blood to heal your wounds, or the wounds of others. The life transferred may exceed your own or your target’s maximum, but such excess will bleed away. Higher levels will slow the loss of excess health.
[Life Explosion]
Enemies explode in a rain of blood which causes [Bleed]. Allies will lose status effects and gain minor protection against additional status effects. The damage from this skill will scale with level.
[Moonlight Multiplier]
Moonlight can be deceptive. Once a day, split your consciousness into many forms, all of which retain your abilities and talents. The level of this skill determines how long you can remain splintered. At Higher levels, reduce cooldown, split into more forms for shorter time periods, or fewer to increase the time.
Kaden hadn’t taken time to study her tier two skills, and regretted it. The explosion…could be scary, her heal would stack extra health, and Moonlight Multipler—that one made him stop. “You get this, right? All your copies have Queen of Entropy. We don’t know the exact failure rate, but let’s say it’s only ten percent. Five copies? Fifty percent chance of failure for as long as you hold them.”
Eve thought for a moment. “It’s more like twenty percent. Since their machinery is always running, it’s near certain.”
“These will be tier two gnomes with better equipment. First tier gnomes blow up twenty percent of the time on their own,” Cutter said.
Kaden checked his notifications.
Your group has grown by [9]. Leader of the Pack is more efficient. Bonus: 1.4%
It would help. “You want me to stealth out and check out the gnomes?”
“We have an actual [Thief] for that.” Cutter waved to the tall black man at the end. “Stay safe, get us the goods. And by goods, I mean information. There’ll be plenty of gnomes for everyone.”
He ducked around a corner—and never emerged, having engaged some kind of [Stealth].
Sara called the party over. “We’re low level for these mobs. They’re thirties. Do what Cutter says, when she says it. When it comes time, we’re mostly ranged.”
“How is Cutter getting close enough to engage?” Kaden asked.
“The first stage is clearing a path to a building. Afterwards, there’s work for all of us.” Sara drew her bow from Inventory. “You and Ashi hang back, keep your eyes open. Don’t let us get swarmed.”
The Buried City had wide cobblestone streets with deep gutters and drains to remove water. The houses were two, three, or more stories with opening in the center to let sun shine down.
Cutter waited nervously for ten minutes, but relaxed as her [Thief] materialized. A few moments later, she called them over. “The Poteri Conflict Map is accurate, next two streets are clear, the one after that has gnomes in some buildings, everything after that is gnome land. We’re going to take a building on the contested street. Eve is with us, you three, pick the highest house and snipe.”
After she organized her party, Cutter followed the [Thief], leading them toward a building in the middle of the contested zone.
“We’re being tested. She doesn’t trust us.” Sara pointed to a three story house at an intersection. “There’s four parties on that street and one doing sabotage down this way. We can see the building Cutter’s clearing—the tall one there.”
“That is a temple,” Ashi said. If waiting bothered her, she didn’t show it.
Kaden used [Stealth Aura] to make sure the house was clear, then joined Ashi and Sara on the top floor. As he waited, Kaden realized the Buried City wasn’t quiet. Gears rattled and squealed, boilers whistled, the smell of burning oil and smoke hung thick everywhere.
And the gnomes weren’t quiet.
Their inhuman gibbereing carried, coming from everywhere. It made Kaden nervous, and kept him watching the supposedly clear side streets. Only when he saw Adventurers moving through streets, setting up for battle, did Kaden feel free to pay attention to the temple.
It did look like a temple, four stories, each smaller than the one before, with sloping stone roofs.
“There! Second floor,” Ashi said, pointing out her window.
Kaden risked a glance and that was definitely [Moon Strike] lancing out across the wide building.
“Gnomes, coming from the east.” Sara spoke softly, clearly.
They were moving in a group of ten, spilling out of a house to the east, where an Adventurer Party had engaged.
Ashi glowed bright red, so bright it hurt Kaden’s eyes, and the cobblestone beneath the gnomes turned orange and sizzled. The gnomes on the outside of the group escaped fine, those at the center couldn’t move fast enough, and caught fire.
If they hadn’t wielded wands powerful enough to disintegrate Kaden, he would have laughed. As it was, Kaden ducked back into the shadows and ran to a side window. “They know it came from here, stay back from the windows.”
Half the gnomes headed straight for Kaden—only to find themselves under fire from the party who’d chased them out to begin with. Kaden risked a shot with Thorn Caster, spearing a [gnome].
The poison notification made him smile, even as the gnome ran screaming. Its four friends drew wands in unison. Kaden leaped away from the window as fireballs exploded outside and inside. He might be fireproof, but gnomes could—and did—switch elements constantly.
A lightning arrow struck a gnome from behind, sending it stumbling out into the street, where a bolt of darkness blew a hole in its chest.
You have helped kill a gnome.
You have gained experience.
Kaden’s kill counter ticked upward by one.
“Kaden. Sara. Mana is shifting. I do not know the reason, I know only that it is. These [Gnomes] have very little mana.”
Sara watched the streets. “It’s either a gnomish war machine—”
“Or a lot of gnomes.” Kaden said. “It’s the gnomes. I see them coming down the street.”
Ashi whistled, low and sharp. “Not so. I hear the rattle of machinery. I smell their [Mage Fire].”
Sara swore, and dispatched her parrot. “It’s both. A counter-attack.”
Kaden liked his odds of keeping himself safe in this simple stone house. But Eve, and Cutter, and her party? They were in trouble.