Jace looked on with frustration as he saw Ian lead Esther and Draya away from the elevator of the Mithril Palace. The orc shaman was no longer magically held, as Noyamon, the priest, didn’t worship a god that allowed him to steal mana from other characters, so his own generation skill limited him, and he couldn’t keep two level 16 characters immobile indefinitely. Instead, two mages flanked Jace and Snowy, fire at their fingertips, poised to attack at a moment’s notice. Dragon fire wouldn’t work in this fortress, but regular mage fire was still in play.
Jace had stealthily cast all three of his totems at various locations around the vast cavern before they had attracted the attention of every magic user in the room, taking advantage of its stone construction and his impressive totem range. He wasn’t completely helpless, but without Diamond Etcher (or any sword), he was limited in how much damage he could produce and vulnerable to any attack. He saw the women had their hands behind their backs as they approached and wondered how disabled they were.
{They are cuffed with mithril shackles,} Gracie informed him. Now that they were in range of Jace, she could examine their status better. {It looks like the shackles normally Grapple them with a strength of 50. Since her Escape Artist feat contributes to her grapple defense against all types of bonds, Esther has a skill of 39. She’d have more if they hadn’t taken her Athletic necklace. An average roll should let her escape, but the shackles are enchanted with a +25 bonus, so even if she rolled a 20, she would be over ten short of the target. The enchantment on the shackles is level 15, so you should be able to dispel it, but every magic user in the area will sense you do it.}
Jace didn’t like his chances in a fight. Esther wasn’t wearing her armor or weapons, and he was willing to bet she had also been stripped of all her other magical items. As a vampire with insane skills, she was still formidable, but not with her hands behind her back.
{When someone is touching them,} Gracie continued her report, {they are Securely Grappled and can only move where they are directed. They can’t do anything that requires an action but can still talk. If they are left alone, and no one is touching them, they are only Grappled and can do anything that requires a single action. They can move, attack, or cast burst spells, but those options are still severely limiting.}
Jace knew that all Draya’s offensive spells took a full round to cast. Esther had the Quick Cast feat that let her cast a few spells in one action, but her Charm+ and Acid still took two. And going into their inventories to reprogram spells to fit their new situation took a full round. At best, Esther could bite someone, but since she couldn’t Grapple them with her hands behind her back, they could strike back.
In addition to Ian, a troll and four fighters accompanied the women. A large human with an axe and shield on his hip escorted Esther, while a dwarf with a hammer and shield led Draya. A half-orc held a two-handed sword while an archer trailed the group by 30 feet and had an arrow aimed at Esther the whole time. The group didn’t have any additional storm shamans with them, but the two who had escorted Jace down were still there, along with several mages and a handful of formidable fighters.
Besides Lexi, who had moved to a lounge chair by the pool a while ago, Jace’s group out-leveled all the other characters. The storm shamans were level 15, and everyone else was 14 or below. Draya and Esther were offensive weapons without equipment, but they would be vulnerable to all kinds of attacks. It looked like they were already injured. Esther was at half health, while Draya was dangerously low at 50.
“I found these two,” Ian said to Brock once he led the group to the middle of the chamber. The dwarf had moved Jace and Snowy away from the dining room, so his minions could better flank the prisoners.
“We stripped them of everything we could,” Ian started to say as he turned to leer at Esther. He stopped suddenly when he saw she was wearing a black dress. The rogue winked at him. Since her Quick-Change ability didn’t require her to go into her inventory or spend an action, as soon as Ian had moved to the front of their group and couldn’t see her anymore, she had changed. Her chaperone could have pressed her up against the wall and taken the dress too, but those hadn’t been his instructions, and he wasn’t a great thinker.
“Find anything interesting?” Brock asked, failing to pick up on the private exchange between Esther and Ian.
“Other than weapons and armor, there was this.” Ian had a gem bag equipped, and he removed the undead stone he had taken from Esther.
The woman had been all smiles at the elf when she was showing off her smuggled outfit, but now her face dropped, and she refused to meet Jace’s gaze. The vampire had willingly turned over the stone to him after their mission to acquire Draya, and Jace had thought it was an impressive display of willpower. As it turns out, it was also a short-lived one. She could have gotten the item out of Jace’s locked chest only if Trixna had helped. With the orc upset about Jace turning down her sexual advances, that probably hadn’t been a difficult task. Trust was still something he needed to work on in his group.
Brock was too focused on the black sphere to notice the tension between Jace and Esther, and he wouldn’t have cared if he did. “What is it?”
“Dark magic,” Ian said. He didn’t have much magical acuity as a rogue, but as an elf, he could feel the death inside the object.
They both turned to Noyamon, and the priest took a step back. “You can use it to summon undead,” he said. “I think you can even use it to turn someone undead. Reycon specializes in that, not me. I cannot use it.”
Ian stored it back in his gem bag, not about to turn it over.
“What about the mage?” Brock continued, shifting his eyes to Draya.
“She did not have anything remarkable other than a weapon and a few potions.”
“No,” Brock clarified. “I mean, the dragon girl still wears an enchanted robe.”
“Ah, yes, well, it was cursed,” Ian said. “They each had cursed rings too, and we couldn’t remove them.”
Brock turned to Jace with questioning looks. “Cursed items?” Brock asked.
Jace shrugged his shoulders. “What can I say? My party members look before they leap.”
“Yes,” a female voice purred from the side. “I’m sure that’s what it is. Jace Thorne is known for his careless play style.”
All eyes went to Lexi as she got up from her chair and joined the party. “What do they do?” she asked as she closed in on Jace. She didn’t get too close to the tall orc, so she could still look him in the eyes. “Protection from something? Are they building up a charge so your women can break free? We don’t have time for your foolish games. Answer me. There will be consequences.”
Jace wasn’t compelled by a spell at this point but guessed that would be coming if needed. “We don’t have time?” Jace echoed. “It looks like we have nothing but time. Now we have to negotiate for the freedom of six people.”
“Still only three,” Brock nearly shouted. “And even there, I am being generous. My captives have aided a rebel against my government, and these two . . .” he trailed off as he turned to look at Ian. “I assume there were casualties?”
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“There are at least two dead shamans and two missing trolls. Also, Reycon didn’t respond to the summons. He was with one of the trolls.”
Brock shrugged. “The priest will wake up in his bed in an hour or so. We will have to go into the mountains to replace the others.”
“So, no big loss,” Jace replied, not thinking they would see it that way.
“I sensed that my cats ate Reycon,” Lexi said, not really sounding upset about it. “The priest will wake up with nightmares. He might not stay with us and won’t be the same for a while.” She turned to Ian. “Perhaps we can tempt him to remain with the undead gem you acquired.”
Jace looked back at the woman. “That sounds like your problem, not mine. You need to control your animals better.”
“And you have perfect control over yours?” she asked, drawing out the last word with a purr. She pivoted on her pawed feet and sauntered toward Esther. Lexi gave the man holding the rogue a look, and the NPC released her and took a step back. Esther had a little more freedom but was too entranced by the odd combination of leopard and woman walking toward her to take advantage of it.
“Have you ever eaten someone your master told you not to?” Lexi smiled broadly at the captive, showing off her sharp teeth. “Have you ever needed to satiate your hunger and just couldn’t control yourself?”
Jace didn’t know the game she was playing, but chaos was his best chance at survival about now, and he trusted Esther to respond to the taunts appropriately, not that he had much choice in the matter.
“I don’t really eat people,” Esther replied slowly, testing out this encounter. She felt some of her abilities open up once the guard had released her, but she was still restrained. “I just say that. I only suck out their life energy. Snowy eats people.”
“Yes, your wolf,” Lexi said, not turning to look at her. “We’ve become good friends while waiting for you to arrive.” Snowy growled a negative response to the comment. “But I don’t want to talk about her; I want to talk about you, your hunger, the taste of blood on your lips. You do more than just suck the life out of them, don’t you.”
“Lexi,” Brock interrupted. “We don’t have . . .” but he stopped as Ian moved beside him and put a hand on his arm. They had invited the women into their party for precisely this reason. She played the game differently. The men knew they weren’t on par with Jace or Esther’s play style. Lexi was close.
The druid shapeshifter ignored the men. “When was the last time you fed?” she continued, drawing Esther into her large, feline eyes. She had already cast a charm spell on Esther and was prepared to do much more. As a druid, she had many magical abilities stunted as a leopard, but with her Mana Bridge ability, she had access to everything in this hybrid form. Even her tail was hypnotizing Esther as it swished back and forth behind her.
“I don’t know,” the vampire replied slowly. Had she fed on her mission with Gromphy? She couldn’t remember now. Was the last enemy she had eaten an orc in Psycho’s module? It hadn’t been satisfying.
“You know what I like to do?” Lexi asked. The whole room was falling under her spell now. “I like to enter level 10 PVP hostile zones. As a cat, you can’t see my level, so all of these wanna-be adventurers at 12 who are grinding for experience against creatures below them see a leopard stalking about in the woods and think they have an easy kill. But I kill them. And then I eat them. I really eat them. Have you ever fed on a PC before? Or does Jace only give you spawned NPC garbage to eat?”
“I . . . I fed on Jace before,” Esther said in a trance. “It was part of his plan.”
“But was he terrified?” Lexi asked. “Was he screaming for his life as you tore out his throat? The blood is so much sweeter then.”
Esther numbly shook her head. “N-n-no. It w-was part of the p-plan.” She paused and cocked her head, her eyes losing their distant look. “That was actually a good plan,” she said loudly at Jace. “It got us Draya. Not like this plan. This plan sucks.”
Lexi stepped back, and the whole room leaned out in unison as the spell broke. Esther only smiled at the druid, dropping her voice. “You can’t play a player. It’s sloppy. Not a great plan either.” She feinted toward the cat woman, her fangs bared, and Lexi gracefully leaped back. The druid looked at the fighter behind Esther, and the man grabbed the rogue’s shoulder before she could do anything else.
“Jace,” Esther said louder. “Draya wants to know if this is your whole plan. She said you said she couldn’t make fun of it until it fails. Looks like a failure to me.”
Draya wasn’t as carefree a spirit in the face of danger, and she had only regained consciousness on the elevator ride down to this level, so she wasn’t quite as ready to banter as her friend. The mage shot a look at Esther, telling her to be quiet, but the vampire ignored her.
“They can’t all be winners,” Jace replied, happy with how his companion handled the powerful druid. “My plans work half the time.”
“Good,” Esther said. “Then I can’t wait for the next one.”
“Enough of this nonsense!” Brock shouted, stepping into the middle of the group. Lexi realized she had been the center of attention, and while she had wanted it originally, finding herself directly between Jace and Esther wasn’t the smartest place to be, and she backed out. “We don’t have time for these games.”
“But you must play them,” Lexi said from the crowd’s edge. “I’ve been telling you, but you don’t listen. We are in a game. Those who play it the best, win. These two . . .” her eyes went between Jace and Esther. “They are still playing. You are standing around talking about gold and treasure and treason while these two are . . . I don’t know.”
Jace smiled at her frustration, which only drove the cat woman even more crazy. They were prisoners, subject to the whim of their captures and unable to affect anything, yet Lexi was convinced Jace and Esther held all the cards. Jace hadn’t told his companions his backup plan because he didn’t want them to think him insane, but Esther knew it existed. Draya was still learning and looked more frightened than when the Mongorians had hauled her away. But Esther had spent enough time with Jace to know he had another trick up his sleeve.
Brock threw his hands up in frustration but was learning to respect the opinion of his newest companion. “That does me no good, Lex. If you can’t tell me what their plan is, I have to proceed as normal. Kill the women and the wolf. I will hold the respawn rights, and then we can negotiate with Jace. He says the level 50 crystal is priceless. We’ll see what he values.”
Draya cried out at this announcement, and the dwarf holding her clamped a hand over her mouth, pinning her to his chest and rendering her Helpless. Her eyes were wide with fear, and Jace hated putting her through this again. Esther only laughed.
“Don’t,” Lexi pleaded. “Not yet. There must be more. Where is Psycho in all this? Jace wouldn’t come here without his most powerful weapon.”
Ian shrugged. “We didn’t see him. Don’t know why the archer wouldn’t be protecting the women. No one is upstairs that isn’t replaceable. If he is up there wandering around, he can’t hurt anything.”
“He can kill the rest of the shaman and make us vulnerable to attack,” Lexi said.
“Is that your plan?” Brock said, walking up to Jace and trying to get in his face. As tall as the dwarf was, the orc had two feet on him. “Is there an army waiting to cross the bridge and attack?”
Jace chuckled. “I barely made it over that bridge without falling. You think an army can march across.”
“The other shamans are still alive,” one of the bald men reported. “No one has climbed the mountain trail since Jace.”
“And the prisoners?” Brock asked, turning to Lexi.
She nodded. “My cats say they are still in place. There was activity in the room above that they didn’t understand, but only Reycon came down for a visit, and he is gone now.”
“Then, what do we do?” Brock asked. “Proceed as if we are in control, which it looks like to me, or wait for the great Jace Thorne to enact his impossibly brilliant plan that required his entire party to be rendered Helpless in the most defensible area of our stronghold?”
Lexi snarled at the sarcasm but didn’t have an answer.
“That’s what I thought,” Brock said. “I’m sick of waiting on others. I will do what I think is right and . . .”
His voice trailed off as an intensely hot wind flooded the chamber. Several NPCs screamed. “What . . .” Ian and Brock said together, looking at each other and then at Jace.
The orc shrugged and motioned behind them toward the back of the room and the central meeting table. The two PCs turned to investigate and saw a massive hole in the wall 24 feet in diameter. It looked into an empty mining chamber from which waves of heat and musty air wafted into the Mithril Palace.
“What is that?” Brock said.
“My plan,” Jace replied. He had been testing the thicknesses of various locations in the chamber using his Stone Tunnel spell and had finally found a spot 20 feet thick right before Ian had led his new prisoners down.
“So, I have to do some redecorating,” the stronghold owner said. “Nothing I can’t handle. I’ll get Pebbles to fix it. It changes nothing.” He was about to give the order to kill the two women when the cavern shook. Anyone with Dexterity under 12 fell to the ground as all eyes were transfixed on the hole. A few seconds later, the massive armadillion came bounding out of the cavity. It burst through the enormous marble table, shattering it into pieces, and landed on a couple of mages that were too frozen with fear to move. They both died instantly. It opened its horned maw and released a deafening roar, the heat waves warping the air.
“Not my best plan,” Jace admitted to anyone who would listen as the room erupted in chaos around him.