Lore and Corminar arrived promptly to our arranged meeting point, a tavern just outside the Auricia perimeter. We’d been there a couple of days, killing time, and we’d been digesting both terrible tavern food and the information I’d found in the palace records office. That is, Arzak and Val had been processing the information about the Player—though Val hadn’t shared the woman’s true identity with the orc—while I’d been processing the information about my mother.

I still didn’t know much about my Player heritage, even with the records we’d leafed through. But I knew she was about there, and a part of the same so-called “Council” that the pyroknight had been a member of. This definitely didn’t mean anything good.

If my mother was evil, and her blood ran through my veins, what did that make me? Was I doomed to become just like them one day, if I ever grew strong enough?

Yet that wasn’t the point that weighed most heavily on my mind. The revelation that my mother was both alive and had been in the Tundras was the information I dwelled on. She’d known where I was, and she’d been in the area, but she’d never checked in. I’d always assumed, as a child, that there was some great reason my mother had never come back—the go-to had been that she’d died for some noble cause in the Badlands—but now I had the truth…

I didn’t quite know what I felt, just that I had a heavy pit in my stomach.

When Lore and Corminar walked in, thatched carrying case in the former’s hands, I was relieved; I had a distraction now, and didn’t have to swell on the matter of my mother any further. We said our hellos, and Lore placed the carrying case atop one of the tavern’s tables, before hurrying over to the barmaid to place in an order for five ales and one large bowl of roasted carrots.

‘It is the only food we can consistently get the depth raider to eat,’ Corminar explained, as Lore began pushing the carrots through the bars in the case.

I peered inside, expecting something horrific or otherworldly—there’d been so much of that kind of thing in my life recently—but inside, the creature looked only like a small rodent. It had two sharp, pointy ears, and large black eyes, and its two spindly hands gripped on the roasted carrot slices as it nibbled away. I caught sight of the small metal band of the witchfinder’s clasp wrapped around its neck.

‘That’s it?’ I asked. ‘I was expecting something…’

‘Scarier?’ Lore guessed. I nodded at this.

‘Have you never heard the expression, “One must not judge an elf by their face?”’ Corminar asked. ‘It is a being of immense power, you must remember, despite its gentle visage. It might level the town were the right person—a strong person—to walk nearby. I keep reminding Lore of this, but, alas, it has not helped.’

‘I named him Oli,’ Lore explained.

‘You know it boy?’ Arzak asked.

‘He has not gendered the beast, no,’ Corminar said. ‘He says only that—’

‘It just feels like a boy, you know?’ the barbarian broke in.

Corminar pursed his lips together, completely unimpressed.

‘Not had any trouble, then?’ Val asked. ‘Or I figure you probably wouldn’t have named it.’

‘Him,’ Lore corrected her.

‘We have not been unfortunate enough to encounter someone strong enough for it to latch upon. Apparently even I am not strong enough to gain its interest, though perhaps this is related to how useless my bow currently is.’ He placed the weapon on top of the table.

‘That’s a new one,’ Val pointed out.

‘Indeed, yet it is still useless. Until I find another bow that is up to my usual standards, I’m afraid that I—’

Val piped up, ‘I don’t think that’s how it works. I think the depth raider…’ She trailed off when she caught sight of Arzak gently shaking her head; there was no point in telling Corminar this.

‘The family were keeping it as a pet, you know,’ Lore said. ‘Thought it was a mouse. We had to pay quite a bit just to get it off them. Nice bunch, though. Said they were gonna use the money to go on holiday. I recommended the Tundras but they said they wanted somewhere warmer. I told them they could go sledding, and the kids seemed quite excited by that, but, no. No more Tundran friends for us just yet.’

‘Yes, thank you, Lore,’ Corminar said, then turned to the rest of us. ‘And may I ask how your task went? We have information on this Niamh, I trust?’

This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.

‘She’s gone north,’ I said. ‘Into the Tundras. More friends for you, Lore.’

‘I wish.’

‘Any ideas what she is doing up there?’ the ranger asked. ‘I imagine something terrible.’

‘Almost certainly,’ Val grumbled.

‘We know she’s the member of a Council—the same one the pyroknight mentioned. The fact that a Council exists means there must be a purpose to what all these Players are up to; we don’t think they’re going around killing people for the fun of it, but—’

‘I wouldn’t put it past them,’ the witch added.

I pointed to her; that had been exactly what I’d been about to say. ‘The reason she was pulled away from the witchfinders is because she was needed elsewhere. She was needed to replace the pyroknight.’

Corminar raised his eyebrows. ‘So it was our doing that…’

I nodded. ‘Whatever the pyroknight was up to, she’s now seeing it through. Up in Lenktra. So that’s where we head, in the morning. And we go find out just what it is that she’s up to.’

The elf and the barbarian nodded. ‘Works for me. But my sheep…’ Lore trailed off, leaving the question hanging in the air.

‘If Elandor is to be believed, they are safe and sound in this portal dimension. Whether we rescue them now, or we rescue them later, they won’t know the difference.’

‘No, it’s not that,’ Lore said. ‘Or at least not just that. What if we’re too late? What if he gets sick of waiting? What if he just… closes the dimension?’

‘He will wait, Lore, I assure you,’ Corminar said, reaching up to place a comforting hand on the man’s shoulder. ‘Elandor is smart enough, at least, to know that retrieving a depth raider will take time. We can afford the diversion.’

‘How sure are you?’

‘Very sure,’ Corminar said. He turned away from Lore to face the rest of us, then mouthed, ‘Not very sure at all, in fact.’ None of us said anything, though; as much as we liked Lore’s sheep, we all knew that stopping this Player had to be our top priority.

‘I think that’s everything,’ I said, then made eye contact with Val. It wasn’t everything, of course; the witch still hadn’t told anyone else about her personal history with Niamh. ‘Unless I’ve forgotten anything, Val?’

The witch licked her lips a moment, considering, then said, ‘No. No, I think that’s all.’

I held her gaze, and nodded; this would stay between us for the time being, at least until Val was comfortable sharing it with the wider group.

We drank until late into the night, allowing ourselves just one evening of downtime. As always, it was Arzak to call it a night first, followed some time later by Corminar and then Lore, leaving just Val and I to finish off the last of the tavern’s nice stout. When even I could drink no more, I stumbled up to the room I’d booked, and collapsed into the bed almost fully clothed—I did at least have the good sense to remove my shoes.

Sleep took me quickly, and within moments of closing my eyes did I begin to lose consciousness. That is, at least, until I felt someone putting their weight on the bed. I opened my eyes just enough to see that it was not an enemy, but Val, slipping under the covers with me.

‘What are you doing?’ I mumbled, still half-asleep.

‘I’m sick of pretending,’ the witch replied, ‘and I think you are too.’

At that, I wrapped one arm around her, pulled her close, and sank into the deepest sleep I’d had in a good long time.

"Styk"

Level 13 Bladespinner

Base Stats:

Vitality — 32

Intelligence — 124

Dexterity — 60

Strength — 62

Wisdom — 47

Charisma — 21

Skills:

Worldbending — Level 30

Knifework — Level 26

Stealth — Level 12

Identification — Level 10

Needlework — Level 9

Abilities:

Slice — Slice the enemy for physical damage worth weapon’s base damage and additional damage scaling on [STR].

Stab II — Put your weight behind your wielded blade and force the tip through tougher hides and armour. Damage scales on [STR], increased by an additional 20%.

Execution II — Attack a target while undetected for +200% damage.

Closed Reach — Bend reality to narrow the gap between blade and target by up to 8 inches. Uses mana.

Mana-Fuelled — Passive. Optionally, use mana in place of stamina to activate Knifework abilities.

Local Portal II — Create a portal to another location within current range of sight or within a ten yard radius. Uses mana/second.

Portal Slice — Passive. Portals can now be spawned within non-sentient objects. Doing so slices through all objects that are not reinforced by magic.

Tamed Portals — Passive. Increased efficiency of portal magicks means that your portal glow is reduced by 50%, making them less likely to be detected by enemies.

Ash Husk — Convert your flesh to ash, strengthening it against flame for ten minutes. Gain 50% resistance to fire attacks.

Shrill Perimeter — Create a perimeter wall of 20 foot radius, invisible to all but those adept in magicks. If an enemy crosses this perimeter, this spell releases the shriek of a banshee.

Warped Shield — Passive. If an enemy strikes you with a low-level melee weapon, Warp Shield automatically activates to open a portal that deflects this attack. You must not have any portals currently active. Uses mana on activation.

Stealth Attack — Passive. 50% boost to damage when unnoticed by enemy.

In Plain Sight — When activated, you have a heightened abilitiy to hide in plain sight, and are able to spot opportunities to break from combat at a higher rate. Scales on [WIS].

Stitch — Create a basic stitch in common fabrics. Ability scales on [CHA].

Basic Cloth Armour — Craft basic cloth armour, quality dependent on materials, time and skill level.

Active Effects:

Legacy of Sisyphus:

XP gain increased by +900%