Val raised her hands, moving her fingers in much the way that I’d seen before, when she’d been about to start weaving her magicks. But these days, ever since the incident with the witchfinder village, she wasn’t carrying an obscurem to mask what would be the green glow of Witchcraft.
I grabbed her hands, lowering them. ‘Val, no. Not here. It isn’t—’
‘He already knows!’ the witch hissed back at me.
‘He might, but nobody else does. Let’s keep it that way, yeah?’
‘Equivalence?’ the sorcerer called out again behind me. ‘Do you not recognise your old tutor?’
Val and I turned slowly, and I placed myself between her and the stranger, still expecting trouble.
‘I recognise the man who expelled me,’ Val said, after a moment of staring the man down.
‘Yes, well… We all know what that was about.’
By now, a good chunk of the tavern’s patrons were staring at the interaction; the atmosphere had changed enough that they recognised that something could be about to go down.
‘Do you intend to… seek further “justice”?’ Val asked, talking around the point so as to not clue the onlookers in on what was going on.
The older man’s eyes shifted from her, to me, and then to the rest of the group. Of the others, all four—Arzak, Corminar, Lore and the depth raider, in its cage—stared back at him. The sorcerer’s eyes lingered on the last of these. ‘Perhaps I… acted too swiftly, all those years ago. Without due consideration. What you—’ He cut himself off, also apparently keen to avoid using the word “witch”. ‘The disciplinary matter of which we speak perhaps was rooted in archaic rules. Rules that perhaps do not hold up to the evolving standards of the modern day.’
I could feel Val remaining tense, but she said nothing.
‘Come,’ the sorcerer said, waving her over towards him and the group of elves he was apparently here with. ‘Allow me to buy you and your friends a drink. It would not be enough to make amends, but it would, perhaps, be a start.’
Val stirred behind me, and I glanced over my shoulder at her. Though still tense, it had softened somewhat at the mention of free beer.
‘He’s making peace,’ I whispered to her. ‘Sometimes it’s best to go with it.’
After another moment of consideration, Val finally nodded, and walked—very slowly—over to the sorcerer and his elven friends.
‘What will it be?’ the sorcerer said, waving to the bar keep.
‘Ale. Red,’ Val replied.
The barkeep nodded their acknowledgement of the order, and the sorcerer turned to me, raising his eyebrows as though to repeat the question.
‘The same.’
‘Excellent,’ the sorcerer said, then pushed forward a hand to shake mine. He gripped it firmly. ‘Arnold Orellan. I’m sure you’ve heard of me.’
I wasn’t quite sure whether I was supposed to have heard of the man through Val or more generally, but either way, I had absolutely no idea who he was. I answered only with a polite smile and a nod.
Arnold turned back to Val. ‘And for your friends?’
‘Three more of the same.’
‘Won’t Corminar want—’ I started.
Val shook her head. ‘He doesn’t know what he wants. He’ll prefer the beer to the wine, he just thinks he should be drinking wine.’
‘Wine is the preferred drink of his people,’ one of the elves—the man who had eyed up Corminar earlier—offered.
‘He’s not been one of “his people” for a long time,’ Val said, almost snapping at the elf. I thought if she hadn’t been so stressed in the currently situation, she probably wouldn’t have been so snippy about the matter.
As the night went on, Val began to relax, and the team began to mingle with the sorcerer and his elven friends. It took me asking to find out that the elves were low-level diplomats from the Dawnwoods, and part of Queen Amira’s ongoing efforts to bring their two countries closer together. All around the Goldmarch were other elven diplomats, being given tours around the land by locals in high standing—like Arnold Orellan here—and becoming experts in specific regions. The group that the sorcerer was travelling with had been charged with becoming experts in the Goldmarch’s trade with the Gentle Tundras, to the north.
By the time that the hour grew late, Val had relaxed some more. Enough even that when Arnold Orellan asked if we would consider travelling north with them—we would provide the group with protection on these bandit-infested roads and be offered payment in return—Val accepted the deal. Well, to be honest, “accepted” might have been overstating it; Arnold didn’t seem to give us much of an option, but Val at least didn’t push back on it.
And so it went that our group, for the time being, grew larger.
* * *
Over the next few days, we managed to avoid the bandits, though we saw and heard that they were operating in these parts. Locals complained and sought to hire us to deliver justice, and there was no shortage of burnt buildings—those who had resisted the criminals. No bandits had attacked us, however, though I thought this was more to do with them preferring to pick on smaller groups, rather than the dozen or so of us.
As we travelled further north, near enough to Camp Claw, the landscape began to grow desolate. We were in a part of the world where the forest should have grown denser, but that was no longer the case. Instead, there were tree stumps as far as the eyes could see. All the timber in this region had been harvest, with no evidence of any reforestation efforts taking place.
But that was far from the only strange thing we saw on our travels. As we made our way along the coastal road, we encountered locals who complained about disturbances in the Iron Sea. Some recounted events so horrifying that they were abandoning their homes, and based on the evidence we saw first-hand, I was inclined to believe them.
This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.
Some spoke of monsters rising from the depths, slaughtering livestock and single travellers alike. I’d seen many the odd animal ripped apart on the road, and at one point we came across a farmyard consisting of two dozen cows in much the same state, none left alive. Lore was particularly horrified by this sight.
Other locals spoke about cephalopors making trips onto the land, too, and we’d seen this one for ourselves. We saw no sign of any other ones making the trip to the coast, thankfully, but I was very wary of the depth raider sometimes stirring in its cage—were these beasts strong enough to engage the creature’s powerful abilities?
Whether these tales were true or not, there were enough to form a trend, and one thing was clear: some new power was forcing these creatures from the Iron Sea. I sat one evening outside a tavern, doing my best not to overindulge after the headache I’d woken up with the night before—one that Val had refused to heal, saying it served me right—and worked on my Needlework. The gentle waves of the Iron Sea lapped the beach in front of me, though the night was dark enough that I could barely make them out, even with the torch planted in the sand next to me.
As I finished a stitch, a notification popped up in front of me.
Needlework increased to level 10!
Base Points gained — +1 DEX, +1 CHA, +1 Free Point (DEX/CHA)
Ability selection unlocked
Select an ability from the list below:
Option 1: Flamboyant Stitch (Needlework) — Replaces ‘Stitch’. Create an artful stitch in common fabrics. Ability scales more significantly on [CHA].
It would have been a decent enough ability choice if my plan for Needlework had been to sell my wares; people—particularly wealthy people—paid substantially more for clothes with a flair of design beyond the usual functional elements. But my plan for this skill was more practical than that: I wanted to create armour that I could wear, that would assist Warped Shield in making up for underinvesting in Vitality. After all, I was going to continue to put points into Intelligence over Vitality at every opportunity, to boost my mana reserves.
Fortunately, I had another option.
Option 2: Cloth Armour (Needlework) — Replaces ‘Basic Cloth Armour’. Craft a cloth armour of higher quality, dependent on materials, time and skill level.
I didn’t need to give it a second thought; this was the ability choice for me. Even removing the ‘Basic’ from ‘Basic Cloth Armour’ might not allow me to create armour that protected me too much, but it was a start, and it surely lended itself to more similar abilities as I continued to progress.
Ability unlocked — Cloth Armour
Cloth Armour (Needlework) — Craft a cloth armour of higher quality, dependent on materials, time and skill level.
I put my crafting materials down for a moment, and stared out at the dark sea. My thoughts returned to my dreams. Ever since we’d left Auricia, I’d begun to dread going to sleep. Dreams had become… not quite nightmares, but definitely both manic and vivid enough that I wasn’t exactly enjoying them. I couldn’t blame Val even—she’d only returned to my bed a couple of times since Auricia—and I didn’t think it was the beer either, because that was hardly new.
The most common dream I’d had was one of being restrained, while Players stood over me and discussed me, considering me in a language I couldn’t quite understand. They told me they would reveal who—what?—I was, and that bit I could understand. From my restraints, I could only watch as they told my friends, one by one, and one by one they turned against me.
Last night I’d been woken from it by someone shaking me awake. I regret to say that I’d hoped it had been Val joining me again, but instead it was Lore, this time. He’d held the depth raider’s cage in his arms.
‘Lore? What’s… I don’t think we’d both fit in this bed,’ I mumbled, still only half-awake.
‘Someone tried to get in my room. Tried to break in.’
I blinked up at him. ‘Probably a drunk. Probably Val. We’re in an inn, after all.’
Lore had looked down at me, considering this, then nodded, and went back to his room.
I was interrupted from my daydreaming by someone joining me on the beach, planting themselves down at my side. I could sense who it was before they spoke.
‘I’ve been drinking too much,’ Val said.
‘Tonight, or this lifetime?’
‘Last few days. Thought I’d try some of this “fresh ocean air” you were talking about, instead.’ She nodded down at the Needlework supplies. ‘How’s it going?’
‘You really want to know? Thought you thought it was stupid.’
‘Tell me,’ she said.
I paused for a moment, waiting for a punchline that never came, and then began to tell her all about the different techniques I’d been trying, and the new ability I’d just received. All the while, the witch remained quiet, listening intently.
It would have been nice if I wasn’t distracted by the feeling that something was lurking in the Iron Sea.
And I hadn’t known then just how right I was to fear it.
"Styk"
Level 13 Bladespinner
Base Stats:
Vitality — 32
Intelligence — 127
Dexterity — 61
Strength — 62
Wisdom — 47
Charisma — 24
Skills:
Worldbending — Level 30
Knifework — Level 26
Stealth — Level 12
Needlework — Level 10
Identification — Level 10
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].
Cloth Armour — Craft a cloth armour of higher quality, dependent on materials, time and skill level.
Active Effects:
Legacy of Sisyphus:
XP gain increased by +900%