It took several rounds for Draeklynn to regain consciousness, but that gave Jace a chance to heal himself and recharge his illusion necklace. Esther returned the undead stone to her inventory and resumed her standard form. Once the young mage was awake again, Jace and Esther had some explaining to do, but once they reminded Draeklynn she had a dragon inside her, she was a bit more accommodating toward their oddities. After all, they had saved her life.
Jace had expected Dayrin to be waiting for them at the entrance to the catacombs, but they had to show themselves through the basement of the Academy to the main audience hall and then back up to the meeting room where they had been given the quest. It made no sense that the three mages would have been sitting up there the whole time waiting, but it was a computer game, and Jace gave them some slack.
Ellonna and Tang were not as forgiving.
“What happened down there?” the Academy Mistress shouted. “Were our instructions hard to understand? Now you’ve ruined everything!”
Jace stood calmly before the tirade. Behind him, Esther was not as reserved, but he had asked her not to speak up. He would handle it. Standing next to Esther was Draeklynn. Draya, as Esther had already taken to calling her, didn’t know what to think. On the one hand, she knew she had made choices that should have led to her death, and Jace’s original mission had been clear. She didn’t blame the masters of the Academy for sending these adventurers down there to see that she was sacrificed correctly. She probably would have done the same thing in their position. But why were they so upset that Jace and Esther had gone above and beyond? Now they wouldn’t have to worry about the lich ever again.
Jace knew why. Gracie had told him that his mana regeneration rate had been one or two points higher the last time he was in the room. It was hard to know for sure since he was a level 9 then and level 2 now. Plus, his mana generation depended on being in contact with stone, and they were now standing on a wooden floor. But there was a minor advantage to having a fully charged lich living in the basement. Jace was willing to bet it went further, and there were also necromantic benefits.
Not all of the masters were upset to see them. Dayrin couldn’t take his eyes off Draya. Jace hadn’t had much time with her before the transformation, but he knew her hair and eyes were different. He also felt she carried herself with more strength, though she occasionally winced as her new power found a rhythm within her. Dayrin noticed this, and Jace saw fear in the man’s eyes. Surely he had recognized that she hadn’t returned his affections. That wasn’t always a roadblock to persistent men, but this new wrinkle forced him to see their relationship in a different light. He was scripted to mourn her loss and then move on. Now the game had other reasons for him not to pursue a relationship with the powerful young woman.
Jace caught Dayrin also throwing glances at Esther, and, between glares at the two older masters, she returned the looks with a wink and a smile. Jace tried to ignore the flirting gestures as the masters continued berating them.
“What are we supposed to do now?” Tang asked. “All of our masters have reported a reduction of power. You have made this city weaker with your actions today. The entire countryside is vulnerable.”
“We were hired to unlock and enter the lich’s prison,” Jace said calmly. “We did that. We were hired to deliver the stones of power to the lich. We did that. We were hired to ensure the ceremony between the lich and the sacrifice occurred. We did that. You promised to pay us.”
“Absolutely not,” Ellonna said. She turned on Dayrin. “This is your doing. I can sense the dragon’s power inside her still. Your experiments were not as fruitless as you led us to believe. You knew if the lich tried to drain her, Elconoric would die.”
Jace didn’t care if they had it wrong. He would rather they blame the young master. “It sounds like something you need to work out between yourselves,” Jace advised. “It has nothing to do with us.”
Behind him, Draya groaned audibly and clenched her stomach. The three masters looked at the woman with concern and fear. Jace smiled. “I am afraid our young friend is not entirely stable, and while the ceremony did not kill her, it left her with some unfortunate side effects. We need to get her out of the Academy. If you really want to keep your school and city safe, you will let us finish this meeting as quickly as possible.”
Draya moaned again and then coughed. As she covered her mouth, a plume of flame spurted out. The masters reacted on cue. Each produced a magical item from their inventory for the adventurers to select. Usually, Jace would have to pick them up to know what they did, but Gracie had the list of possible items you could get, and she didn’t think there would be anything original.
{Tang has the Intelligence +2 ring,} she advised. {Ellonna has a pair of diamond earrings. Each one increases your Known Spells by one. And Dayrin has a difficulty-enhancing bracelet. When you spend mana to increase the difficulty of a spell, the first 50 mana has double the effect. So if you pay to increase a spell by 10, it goes to 20. That is very powerful. But the ring is still the best. Especially for your new dragon friend.}
Jace nodded, already knowing he would take whatever item Tang offered. After all, he had another plan. He walked forward and selected the ring. Instantly the other masters collected their offerings before the shaman could even think about taking more than one.
“I think that concludes our business,” Tang said, his arms folded in a confident posture. “We will not be calling for your services again.”
Jace bowed slightly. “As you wish. We shall be out of your city within the hour. I’m sorry that our-”
Draya cried out again and looked as if she were about to sneeze. “Look out!” Jace cried, taking a few steps forward and colliding with Master Tang. Esther jumped as well, slamming hard into Ellonna. The younger-looking woman tackled the mage and had her pinned to the ground as a ring of fire exploded from Draya and filled the room. Esther winced as the spell scorched her back while Ellonna took nothing.
Jace suffered 30 damage, nearly killing him. Once again, he had to make a death save, but even at level 2, his base save was above that. He took all his mana and dumped it into his healing ring, hoping the remaining time he would have to spend at level two would be short-lived. None of the mages in the room took any damage, having saved critically against the spell, and the older pair inwardly scoffed that this woman was any real threat. Also, when they saw that all three adventurers they had hired did take damage, they no longer thought them capable of killing the lich on their own and prepared to blame everything on Dayrin.
Mistress Ellonna was in a Helpless position beneath Esther and screamed at the woman to get off her. “I don’t need your protection,” she said as Esther let her up. She refused the offered hand and rose quickly. Esther apologized to the woman profusely.
“We are very sorry for this,” Jace said. “ I think we will be . . .”
“Leaving!” Tang finished for him. The older man hadn’t fared as well after having Jace tackle him. “Dayrin, show them out of the building! Then return here so we can discuss what has happened today.”
This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.
No one had tackled the younger master, and the fire had washed over him without harm. He nodded in acceptance of the menial task and wondered if he should pack up his things before returning in case they escorted him out of the building too. He led the group back down the stairs to the large front entrance.
Dayrin managed a smile when he turned to them before the exit to the Academy. “Well, at least let me thank you for what you did. I’m not sure how you killed the lich and saved Draya, but I really appreciate it.” He turned to the young woman. He couldn’t stop staring at her hair and eyes. She and Esther had been talking and laughing nonstop since they left the meeting room upstairs about how great Jace’s stronghold was, how she should stay with them, and how Jace always took them on the most exciting adventures. There was joy in the woman’s eyes, and fire would have danced in them even if she didn’t have a dragon core inside.
Dayrin had listened to the descriptions Esther had been giving about her life since meeting Jace, minus the parts about her almost dying, and it sounded amazing. Down deep, he wished he could join with them. Jace understood from Gracie that he would if offered, but Jace had no desire for two mages, and Draya was far superior.
“I hope you find the rest of the training you need,” he said, forcing the young woman to pay him attention and stop her conversation with Esther. “Your . . . um . . . issues of control can be fixed.”
“Oh,” Draya replied. “You mean what happened upstairs? That was nothing; I did that on-”
Esther elbowed her sharply and giggled.
“Um, sorry,” she said, restraining laughter. “I mean, uh, thank you. I will try to get more training.”
“You could help with that,” Jace added. “We both know you will be unemployed in ten minutes. I have an option for you that could work. I don’t have room in my party, but I do know of something you can do. I live just north of Crestfall. Have you heard of the city?”
Dayrin nodded.
“A good university is there, but their magic department is lacking. They could use a teacher like you.” Jace sent a link to his unique version of Crestfall to the NPC. “Think about it.”
Before Dayrin could reply, Esther stepped forward. “I want to thank you too. It was very brave what you did for Draya, defying the other masters like that, and don’t think we aren’t grateful.”
The young man grew nervous in front of the striking woman. “I . . . I did what I . . . I thought was right. Anybody would.”
“But nobody else did,” Esther argued.
“I . . .”
But before he could continue, the tall woman stepped closer and kissed him. It wasn’t a quick peck on the cheek, but a deep, passionate kiss, and Jace was sure he felt mana flow through it. Esther started with her hands on his waist to draw him close and slowly worked them up his sides. When the shock of the move ended, and the mage thought to respond in kind, the former escort moved her hands to his chest and gently but firmly pushed him away. “Thank you,” she whispered.
Behind her, Draya giggled and covered her mouth. While the Academy Master stood literally Dazed, the two women scampered past him and out into the late-day sun. Dayrin blinked several times and slowly let his head come out of the clouds. He swallowed twice and shook his head. Jace still stood before him. “Um,” he started. “Um . . .” he tried again. “Uh, will she be in Crestfall too?”
Jace nodded.
“Hmm,” he pondered as if there was any way he wouldn’t accept the offer. “I will look into that opportunity. Thank you.”
The two men shook hands, and Jace followed the women outside with Snowy on his heels. They had left the Academy property and were leaning against a tree in an adjacent park, laughing uproariously. Jace stopped at a distance and worried, not for the last time, what kind of influence Esther would have on her new friend.
“That was a bit much, don’t you think?” Jace said once they noticed him standing there.
“You said I should do whatever it takes,” Esther replied. “That is what it took.”
“His defense couldn’t have been that high,” he argued. Jace assumed the game had protections from letting you steal from the mages to acquire extra items, but they probably didn’t protect against someone as skilled as Esther. “You don’t have to distract me like that when you pick my pocket.”
“I think he’s jealous,” Draya said between giggles but then paused. “Wait . . . you two aren’t . . .”
Esther shook her head and grew serious, lowering her voice an octave. “No. Jace Thorne is much too proper for such inappropriate things.” She lifted her shoulders and pretended to strut around like a man, doing a terrible impersonation of him. It didn’t last long, and both girls burst out laughing again.
“Well?” Jace said. “Did you get it?”
Esther stopped her antics and held up her arm where the magical bracelet she had stolen from the mage already adorned her wrist.
“And the earrings?”
Esther reached under her skirt, as the jewelry was compatible with her gem bag, and as soon as she touched them, she activated them up into her ears. She cocked her head and let the diamonds sparkle in the sunlight. “I had her Helpless on the ground. She didn’t have a chance. Of course, I couldn’t have done it without that amazing fire diversion.”
“Was it good?” Draya asked. “I didn’t know how big to make it. I know Jace said he and Snowy are vulnerable to fire, so I tried to tone it down as much as possible.”
“It was perfect,” Esther confirmed.
“You were amazing,” Jace said. “Both of you. Now we should get going.”
Jace began walking toward the exit of the module when Gracie stopped him. {Before you go,} she said. {There is a temple around the corner. The first level drain Esther did has worn off, as it has been over three hours, and the time you spent in combat mode with the mummies sped that up, but the second will take forever to expire.}
Jace understood and followed her directions to the temple. Seven hundred coins later, he was back to level nine. The module recorded him as level nine when he had entered, and anything above that would be considered leveling up. That didn’t happen until he left. After another few blocks of travel, they made it to the node and whisked themselves to the neutral zone outside Olympus. Jace assumed it would be more crowded than usual, as surely someone had told the rest of the game he was here. But he wasn’t expecting this. Nearly a hundred characters were waiting for them.
Jace hoped they wouldn’t recognize Draya. Gracie had told him that her character was played in various ways and wasn’t always human or female. The fact that he left the quest with an NPC wasn’t unusual; most modules in Olympus gave you that option. A perceptive person might notice that his new mage was wearing student clothing and not a master like she would if Draya was the normal NPC you took from the Intelligence quest. Someone likely told the rest of the game that they saw Jace enter the Intelligence trial.
As Jace would find out later, several people did notice his new companion and would put most of it together, but right now, they were only interested in one thing.
“Esther! Can you level-drain me? I’ve got 5,000 gold.”
“No, do me. I’ve got these dueling bracers for you.”
“I’ve passed the Highland Rogue module and can make you a member.”
“It will only take a second, and I have a set of winter wolf armor for Snowy.”
{What have you done?} Gracie said. {You guys won’t be able to go anywhere now.}
“We don’t have to level up here, do we?” Jace muttered as he elbowed through the crowd toward the travel node.
{Best not to,} Gracie agreed.
Jace used his party leader abilities to force his companions to follow him, not that they wouldn’t otherwise, but the press of the crowd threatened to separate them. Since this was a non-hostile non-PVP zone, the game forced the throng to separate and allow him through. Before he accessed the node, he felt a tug on his sleeve. It was Esther.
“Can I?” she asked. “Please? Just two or three of them. There is this handsome elf and the cutest halfling I’ve ever seen. She probably tastes like marshmallows.”
Jace frowned. “If you do one, you’ll have to do them all.” This sounded like a good argument against it in his head, but her face lit up.
“Really?” but then she realized what he meant. “Come on. It’s way less offensive than what I used to do for money?”
“What did you used to do?” Draya asked.
Esther turned to her new friend. “Um . . .” The vampire wasn’t necessarily embarrassed about her former life, but she could tell Draya was more Traditional and didn’t want to scare off her new companion.
Jace saved her. “We’re going.” He had to shove aside a few more players but eventually got to the node and activated it. Moments later, they were standing at the entrance to his stronghold. Jace could transport directly into his room but figured Esther would want to give Draya the grand tour, and it was easier to start from the beginning.
Jace let them run off ahead while Snowy asked if she could go hunting. She had nearly died twice and had expended all her healing spells, so she was likely hungry. Jace dismissed the wolf and then made his way to his room. The gnomes had built him the closest thing medieval tech could get to a recliner, and he took a seat before going into his inventory screen. He looked forward to exploring his new broken party member.