The days went on like this. We led attacks—of varying levels of success—on transport convoys. We pushed out the remaining Goldmarch contingents from small outposts. We found allies in more dryads, communicated with through Val—who was rapidly becoming Duchess Yua of Lenktra’s closest ally in this campaign.
Cambelny and Orjkan, still based in Fort Tanil, sent us in the frontlines scouting reports, identifying more weaknesses in the Goldmarch’s presence in the Tundras—unprotected food carriages, small clusters of soldiers, and the like. We’d been in quite a few scrapes over the last week or so, and even with Val’s—rapidly improving—Healing, we were starting to feel a bit sore. At least, I’d picked up another couple of levels in Stealth, as well as one in Knifework, which was enough to make me feel this was all worth it. You know, in addition to saving my homeland from foreign invaders.
Speaking of Yua, in fact, Arzak and I had been trying to convince her to leave the frontlines for a few days now. There’d been a scrape before where a Goldmarch soldier had landed a bad blow with her blade on Yua, and it had only been Val’s Healing—along with some Healing support from the dryads—that had saved her. She was better now, she said, but I still noticed her hobbling when she thought nobody was looking. It was her duty, she said, to be here—to convince potential loyalists to join the cause.
It was for this very reason that we were currently travelling to a small town not far from Aptleed, perhaps only a few hours’ ride. Duke Cambelny’s scouting reports said that the people of this town were ripe for the picking; they were dissatisfied with the new Goldmarch order, and one of the enemy soldiers had turned up dead in the last few days. Nobody had stepped forward to claim responsibility, and not a single person had claimed to witness the incident.
When we’d reached the town borders, I’d been ready for a fight, if not exactly excited for one—I was really after a day off—and so was relieved to find that there wasn’t a single soldier in a mustard-coloured surcoat in sight. The Goldmarch had abandoned this town, and according to the tracks that Corminar had spotted, had headed east, towards Aptleed. We must have come close to stumbling across them—another battle I was, frankly, happy to have avoided for now.
Our large group walked down the main road into the centre of town, and though there were people around, it grew eerily quiet. The locals stopped in the streets and poked their heads out of windows to stare at us, but their expressions were neutral and they didn’t say a word.
Finally, Yua came to a stop at the crossroads in the centre of the town, and turned around slowly to look almost everyone in the eyes. The rest of her contingent—me included—stood uncomfortably, shifting from foot to foot, waiting for the Duchess to take the lead. I caught sight of a few eyes set upon me, and I saw something in them. Not quite fear, not quite anger, but something in the neighbourhood of both, for sure. I couldn’t blame them, I realised; they’d just rid themselves of occupying soldiers, and here were some more soldiers marching into town. Maybe it didn’t matter that we didn’t wear the same Goldmarch uniforms.
‘People of Refton,’ the Duchess finally said. ‘Fear not our presence here, we come in peace.’
She’d noticed the same thing as me, then. Though, I supposed she’d told me already: her Identification skill was very highly levelled. She probably saw all that I saw and far more.
‘If it is your will, I and my fellow peace seekers will leave your town immediately, never to return. But I ask this of you first: you listen to that which I have to say, and you give it due consideration. If, after such time, you still wish for us to leave, we will do so with no hard feelings, and without a moment’s hesitation. Is there a mayor here, who might represent you in such discussions?’
I’d heard this speech before, in other towns, though usually someone was quick to step forward at this part. In the town of Refton, nobody spoke, and nobody moved.
‘I do not wish to harm them,’ Yua continued, ‘only to know who to direct—’
‘Ain’t no mayor,’ a woman poking her had out of the window of the first floor of a nearby building said.
The Duchess nodded, ‘Very well. A council leader, or a—’
‘Nah, we had a mayor,’ the same woman continued. ‘But they killed him, didn’t they? Them soldiers.’
‘Yeah,’ another guy piped up, ‘and now more soldier come in, asking to see a mayor. You’re gonna have to forgive us if nobody be stepping forward.’
‘We are not with the Goldmarch,’ Yua said. ‘Forgive me for not properly introducing myself. I am Duchess Yua, of Lenktra, to the south. I know I never had the pleasure of administrating your region—that duty fell to Duke Cambelny—but I assure you that—’
‘Yeah, we figured you was something like that.’
For the first time, I saw Duchess Yua look almost lost for words. Even then, she took only a half-second to regather herself. ‘Then may I ask why you resist us so?’
‘Cos none of you lot protected us, did you?’ the woman in the window said. ‘You got your castles and your palaces and stuff, and yeah, maybe you rule over us with all the best intention in the world, but you still let them Goldmarch soldiers in, didn’t you? And you ain’t protect us for them. Tyll died cos of that.’
‘And Tyll was—’
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‘Our mayor! Proper good woman, she was. Never let any of us go hungry, always shamed those who hoarded crops. Paid to get food into the mouths of my nephew, she did, out of her own pocket. But she’d dead now, and here you stand, in your pretty dress and your silver necklace, and all.’
Duchess Yua unconsciously touched the pendant hanging down from her neck. She’d never been forced to face her own inadequacies, I realised. Duchess Yua was a good woman—she’d proven that to me already—but even good women of her station didn’t properly understand how the rest of us lived. There were… gaps in her visibility. Gaps that had cost Mayor Tyll her life.
I couldn’t help myself here. There was something that needed to be done. Something heroic. I stepped forward. ‘Duchess Yua messed up, yes.’ Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed I was getting a stern stare and flared nostrils for my troubles here, but I continued. ‘But she’s been out here these past couple of weeks trying to put things right. She’s put her life on the line, took a nearly mortal wound just a few days ago. With her help, we’ve disrupted supply lines, eliminated enemy soldiers, and recruited others to our cause. So she made a mistake, yes, but she’s also our best hope of putting things right.’ I stepped back, handing the floor over to Yua once more.
I could see that her glare had softened, that she was no longer flaring her nostrils. She might well still have been annoyed at me, but I realised that there was something that even her high Identification skill didn’t let her see. While in her usual role as duchess, she might never have been able to admit to mistakes, commonfolk like me and those of Refton didn’t respond in the same way to her peers. Making mistakes made you human—or orcish, or elven, or tieflings, and so on. They happened. Even to leaders, apparently, they happened. But nothing was worse than not admitting to them. And nothing was better than putting your life on the line to try and fix them.
Duchess Yua nodded to me, and then turned to the crowd of amassed locals. ‘I come to you with an offer: pick up your blades, and fight with me. Help us in repelling the southern invaders. Return the Gentle Tundras to Tundran rule. And in return, you will be rewarded. I will sell all my finery, my estates, everything down to the clothes on my back, and I will use the revenue for your benefits. Wells for every town. The latest in agricultural technology for each and every farmer. Reforestation efforts to undo the damage reaped by Queen Amira and those under her command. I will do everything—and I certainly mean everything—not just to return the Gentle Tundras to the way they were, but to inspire a new golden age for its tough and loyal people.’
The crowd of Refton remained silent for a moment, considering Yua, and then one man spoke up. ‘We ain’t got no mayor. You speak to all of us. We all make our own decisions. But mine? I’ll pick up a sword. I’ll fight with you.’
Another local stepped forward, and then another, nodding their agreement to Duchess Yua’s terms. She had made quite the promise, forsaking all her riches, though based on what I’d seen of her over the past two weeks, I was inclined to believe that she meant it. From the masses of new soldiers now flocking to her cause, it seemed the people of Refton believed it too.
This recruitment drive became the most productive yet, bolstering our number significantly. Once the people were settled, Yua returned to the Slayers and Orjkan’s soldiers to tell us that we had enough people that we could split into squads, hitting Niamh all around the Tundras simultaneously. It would give us an advantage, and it would leave Niamh to split her resources, to plug enough holes in this metaphorical bucket that she surely couldn’t fill them all.
At least, that was what we’d believed until one of Cambelny’s spies in the region tracked us down.
‘Ma’am!’ he said, riding fast for the duchess. ‘Ma’am!’
‘What is it, soldier?’ she asked.
‘I came straight for you. News from Aptleed, ma’am. Niamh has new reinforcements from Auricia. Reinforcements that are here with the expressed purpose of shutting down the revolution. Amira has sent Knights of the Realm, ma’am.’
Duchess Yua paled, and I met Val’s wary gaze. Players might have been the strongest people in the world, but the Knights of the Realm were second to them. If we’d thought the tide of revolution was turning in our favour, we were wrong.
The true test was only just beginning.
"Styk"
Level 15 Bladespinner
Base Stats:
Vitality — 36
Intelligence — 145
Dexterity — 87
Strength — 68
Wisdom — 54
Charisma — 33
Skills:
Worldbending — Level 41
Knifework — Level 33
Stealth — Level 17
Needlework — Level 12
Identification — Level 10
Abilities:
Slice — Slice the enemy for physical damage worth weapon’s base damage and additional damage scaling on [STR].
Stab III — Put your weight behind your wielded blade and force the tip through tougher hides and armour. Damage scales on [STR], increased by an additional 50%.
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.
Pocket Worlds — Open and access pocket dimensions. Storage capacity of summoned pocket worlds scales with [INT] of creator.
Stealth Attack II — Passive. 80% 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%