As Lore and I drew our blades—one bigger than the other—the enemies attacked. I skirted my eyes over them, counting exactly how many, and came up with nine. That would mean taking down three each—fairly long odds unless we figured out a good plan fast.

The archer on the balcony above loosed a shot and it skimmed my ear, drawing blood. It was about as close as it could get without doing real damage. Seven more of them—their leader not included—stepped menacingly towards us… and still I had no plan.

‘Regroup?’ I asked my friends.

‘Regroup,’ Lore agreed verbally, and Corminar did so with a nod.

We turned and ran, weaving down the winding narrow alley, Lore allowing Corminar and me to go first, as he could bear more damage.

‘Wish the others were here right now!’ I cried.

‘Val and Arzak?’ Lore replied.

‘...Yes!’ I lied. Had I so quickly replaced them with the Trio in my mind?

Lore grunted behind me as he swung his blade to fend off the enemies. They’d grown close already, and we needed to put some distance back between us if we were going to come up with a plan. One idea flashed through my mind—take the battle back to the markets, and hope to lose the enemies in the crowd. But then I got suspicions that these enemies wouldn’t mind a little collateral damage—or, at least, they’d mind it less than we did.

I pushed my hands forward instinctively to open a portal ahead of us, but the alley was narrow and winding enough that I couldn’t open a portal far enough ahead for it to do any good.

‘Rooftops?’ Corminar shouted, and I figured out where he was going with that—he wanted me to portal us up there.

‘Can’t see them, and they’re too high! Out of range!’

Instead we continued to flee down the alleyway, stumbling back out into the marketplace. I looked around quickly for a plan, and spotted that there were a number of balconies hanging over the bazaar. I opened a portal next to myself and Corminar and paired it with one on the closest balcony. ‘Through! Through!’ I shouted, and Corminar did so with only a second’s hesitation.

But a second was too long.

Though the ranger had made it onto the balconies—and was in this moment readying an arrow to fire at one of our pursuers—the enemies had grown too close. Now that the alley had broadened out into a street, the Malae traders had been able to get around Lore. Most of them very sensibly realised that he wasn’t the easiest pickings, and so they were now charging at another member of the team—me.

One of them swung their blade at me before I could disappear through the portal, and I dived backwards to avoid the attack. I aimed my movement poorly, not getting through the open portal but instead clipping my shoulder on it, sending me spiralling towards the ground. I didn’t have a second to spare on another attempt, so I burst back up into a sprint, vacating the spot where a sword was arching down just in time.

And, just like that, I found myself among the crowds once more. I was about to open another portal to get me out of trouble, but the masses had grown so dense that I couldn’t even see a spot to open one to enter. I pushed through the shoppers, five or six of the enemies charging after me. I wanted to call out to Corminar for help, but I knew that as soon as I did, the enemies would know he was there, and would find cover.

But there was another way.

I spun around just long enough to fling my hands in the direction of my pursuers, glimpsed through the crowds, and instead of opening a portal—which would have been ineffective in such a crowd—I used another of my abilities that hadn’t proved all that versatile so far. I activated Silence.

A giant, faintly purple bubble appeared around the enemies and shoppers alike, and immediately all of them blinked at the sudden change in sensation—all sound having been eradicated for them. Some of them even stumbled to a halt. But the confusion would be temporary.

‘Corminar!’ I shouted, not taking my eyes off the enemies so that they couldn’t see who I was yelling to. ‘Get them!’

He immediately fired an arrow that caught one of the traders in the shoulder, sending them to the ground, clutching their wound. It wasn’t a fatal one, but it was enough to eliminate them from the fight—at least until they saw a healer. I felt the uncomfortable sensation of an unread notification popping up, but I ignored it for now—there were still at least five others to deal with.

I continued pushing through the crowd, stretching my head above them to look for a way out. The masses were good for slowing my attackers down, but they also slowed me down—and rendered my portals useless. I needed a little space. To my left, I spotted another cloth merchant—one I’d need to return to later, to restock my Needlework supplies—with their wares hung on solid ropes that stretched across an offshooting road. I swerved towards their store.

Shouting behind me announced Lore’s return to the fray, and I glimpsed him managing to take out another of the Malae traders before they could notice him coming—their attention fixed on me. But then the four remaining turned on him, and even Lore wasn’t strong enough to hold off that many.

‘Lore!’ I shouted. ‘Over here!’

Corminar’s arrows had been few and far between, and it was only at this point that I realised why. He was as limited as I was by the crowds—with these dense masses moving in unpredictable patterns, he couldn’t always get a shot with no risk of hitting an innocent. I saw him leap across the narrow-ish street, from balcony to balcony, trying to find a better angle.

Lore stumbled out of the thick crowd near me, and we charged on down the quieter street. As we passed under the first line of colourful cloths, one of the enemies caught up, striking a blade towards me. Instinctively, I raised my hands to protect myself—which would have been a foolish move if I hadn’t been wearing my new bracers. They stopped the worst of the attack, the blade only just catching my skin, but they were ruined in the process. Already.

Lore roared and tackled my attacker to the ground, which would have been a kind gesture if it didn’t leave me with three others to deal with.

I backed up down the street, passing through the pieces of fabric, and glancing up, a thought occurred to me. ‘Lore!’ I shouted. ‘Be ready!’

The barbarian headbutted the trader he was dealing with, sending them to the ground, clutching their nose, then he looked at me. In the same moment, I reached a hand up and portal sliced one end of the ropes from which the fabric was hanging.

Stolen novel; please report.

And at the same moment, the three traders charged at me.

‘Now!’ I shouted, as one end of the rope fell to the ground at Lore’s feet.

The barbarian thought just quickly enough to grab the rope from the ground and yank it taut—just as the three attackers ran into it. Two of them fell from the impact, and Lore whipped the rope again to topple the other one.

From there, it was easy.

* * *

‘Come out! Now!’ I bellowed to the leader of the traders as we reentered the courtyard, his employees bound by the rope I’d taken from the cloth merchant. I’d paid him for his troubles and promised a return to buy more of his wares, and at that point he’d been happy enough with the deal to even help us tie up the prisoners. All of the Malae traders who’d still been conscious had snarled and spat at us as we did so—all of them except one, the archer, who had been strangely quiet.

The leader of the Malae trader sneered at us as we approached, though I got the impression that the sneer was as much for his employees as it was for us. What did it say about how he ran his business that his team had managed to get captured even though they’d greatly outnumbered us?

‘Now, my good fellow,’ Corminar said, ‘you are going to tell us everything you know about the Armadan Malae trade, and then you are going to show us to your stock. Do you understand?’

The man didn’t reply.

‘I asked you: do you understand?’

Still, nothing.

‘I don’t think he understands,’ Lore said.

Instead of speaking, the enemy finally answered by striking his arms down at his side—with particular dramatic flair, I’ve got to admit—and forming within his hands the blue-white glow of Conjuration magicks.

Corminar raised his bow to strike, landing an arrow firmly in the man’s chest. As a droplet of blood dripped down the side of his mouth, the dust underneath each of his hands began to fly into the air, twisting and turning and taking shape. The shapes of men.

‘Sand spirits!’ Lore shouted.

I moved to charge them with him, dagger in hand, readying to activate Knifestorm to deal damage fast, but the barbarian whipped out his arm to block me.

‘Swords are useless,’ he said. ‘They’ll shift around them.’

From the confident tone, I could tell he’d encountered these before. He knew what he was talking about.

‘Do you have, then, any suggestions?’ Corminar shouted above the blustery wind that kept the sand spirits’ shapes.

‘I…’

The spirits charged towards me and Lore, and I instinctively opened a portal to block them. Only I didn’t open a typical portal. I opened an entrance to a pocket world—one that they blasted right into.

When I snapped the portal shut again, the winds died.

‘You dare—’ the injured merchant leader began, but was cut off by Corminar firing another arrow at him—this one doing the job.

‘...Huh,’ Lore said to me. ‘I wouldn’t have thought of that.’

Corminar nodded approvingly. ‘Best be careful when you next access your pocket world. Though perhaps the magicks will have faded by then.’

I breathed a sigh of relief; fighting in this heat was not much fun, and only then did I allow the notifications to come in.

6x merchants of the dark markets defeated!

Worldbending — +5,350xp

Worldbending increased to level 54!

Worldbending increased to level 55!

Base Points gained — +4 INT, +4 Free Points (INT/WIS/CHA)

Ability selection unlocked

Select an ability from the list below…

…

The ability choice would have to wait for now, at least until we’d decided what to do with these traders. Already, Corminar had begun by taking it upon himself to pull the cloth from their chins, revealing each of the traders’ faces. He moved down the line, revealing mostly tieflings, but the odd human in there too. There was even an elf, sporting on his wrist the red rose symbol of the Red Thorn—a member of the organisation of elves still technically exiled from the Dawnwood, even if it was now under imperial control.

And then Corminar reached the end of the line, standing in front of the archer.

‘I must say,’ the elf said. ‘You are a fine shot. A shame that you take—’ But Corminar stumbled over his sentence when he pulled the cloth from the human’s face—revealing his identity as someone we knew well.

‘...Lambkin?’ Lore asked.

Captain Lambkin. Or, ex-captain Lambkin, at least. The last time we’d seen him, he’d helped us take down Jacob, the pyroknight and the first Player I’d killed. Then, he’d gone off to oversee Tokas, to make sure she didn’t get into any trouble after we’d learned she’d made a deal with the very same Player. From the looks of it, we’d picked the wrong man for the job—because this…. This was trouble and a half.

‘Call the guards, then get me out of here,’ Lambkin said. ‘I will explain everything.’

"Styk"

Level 19 Bladespinner

Base Stats:

Vitality — 50

Intelligence — 204

Dexterity — 114

Strength — 77

Wisdom — 70

Charisma — 49

Skills:

Worldbending — Level 55

Knifework — Level 40

Stealth — Level 22

Identification — Level 18

Needlework — Level 18

Abilities:

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 III — Attack a target while undetected for +300% 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.

Knifestorm — Lash out at all surrounding enemies in a tornado of blades, using either one or two daggers. All enemies with arm’s reach receive physical damage worth weapon’s base damage and additional damage scaling on [STR].

Enhanced Portals — Create a portal to another location within current range of sight or within a thirty yard radius. Support up to two pairs of portals at once. Uses mana to open portals only.

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.

Silence III — Create a bubble of 20 yard radius in which sound is eradicated. Uses mana to cast, zero mana to maintain. You may only have one bubble active at any one time.

Stealth Attack III — Passive. 200% 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].

Improved Cloth Armour — Craft a cloth armour of significantly higher quality, dependent on materials, time and skill level.

Active Effects:

Legacy of Sisyphus:

XP gain increased by +1,400%