Part XVIII: Pilgrimage

‘Out!’ the innkeeper bellowed. ‘Out!’

I raised my hands to protest my innocence. ‘But we saved your inn!’

The man snarled. ‘You were the ones who put it in danger in the first place!’

He wasn’t wrong, and that’s probably why my efforts to keep the rooms ended up being fruitless. It didn’t matter, not really, as there were hundreds of other inns in the city of Coldharbour. We’d just have to move to another.

Val and Arzak were downstairs, the former drinking, while Corminar, Raelas, Alenna and I were in the hallway, trying to work out how to get rid of so many malae. We could either put them somewhere and start a big bonfire—though space was a premium in this dense city, and we didn’t want to commit some accidental arson—or we could get the guards to deal with them. But then there would be questions. Questions we didn’t have good answers for.

Either way, I opened a portal to the road outside and the four of us began carefully transporting the crates out of the inn, freeing the innkeeper of this dangerous merchandise. We were very careful to make sure the crates were fully sealed before touching any of them. I’d been lucky, last time, but now I didn’t have a charge in the Sisyphus Artifact. If one touched me, I was a goner. Honestly, even if I did have a charge, there was no knowing that the artifact would save me. It struggled with the corruption of the malae, or, as the artifact called it, the “fabrics of reality”.

Raelas was silent the entire time, communicating only with the odd nod. Corminar had met my eye, raising an eyebrow at her. The truth was, nobody knew quite what to do with her. For all her sins, she’d just lost the only family she had in the world. Nobody could bring themselves to be so cruel to her as to tell her to go.

As we were finishing up, Arzak left the inn grumbling about something—Val noticeably not with her—and stood watching us carrying the heavy crates.

‘Perhaps you would be so kind as to—’ Corminar started.

Arzak interrupted him by stepping into the street and accosting a merchant carrying a near-empty hand cart. ‘We buy this,’ she said, pointing to the cart. ‘How much?’

The short tiefling man looked up at the huge orc, blinking, and squeaked a reply. A moment later, Arzak was placing an empty hand cart down by the pile of crates. ‘There. I help.’

Corminar smiled up at her, and he managed to express that it was intended sarcastically. He’d really been around us for too long.

‘Where Lore?’ Arzak asked.

Alenna looked up from the latest crate at that. ‘Yeah, I’ve been meaning to ask. He’s been gone all night?’

The elf looked to me to answer, as I’d been the one sharing a room with the missing barbarian. ‘Guess so. I didn’t see him leave.’

‘It’s not like him to go without sleep,’ Alenna said, and I was taken aback by this very correct assessment of the gentle giant. But Alenna really was an old friend of his; maybe she knew him even better than us.

‘I’ll check he didn’t stumble back to bed in all the chaos,’ I said. ‘You good with…’ I gestured to the cart full of monsters.

‘The weight might be a—’ Corminar said, but once again Arzak interrupted him not with her words, but her actions. She lifted the end of the cart with ease.

‘Big fire in desert, yes?’

Corminar nodded. ‘Yes.’

As the elf and the orc made their way towards the outskirts of the city, Alenna took a seat on the ground at the side of the road, and Raelas stood around awkwardly.

I turned back into the portal, and as I stepped through it, I saw the tiefling follow me through. I’d need to do something about that at some point, but right now I was glad to have another priority. I opened the door to the room Lore and I had been using, expecting to her the familiar booming snores, but instead I only heard the creaking of the door hinge.

Nobody was in the bed, but now, in the low light of dawn, I could see that it wasn’t empty. Placed gently atop the pillow was a clumsily folded scrap of parchment, and I could see upon it the large, erratic handwriting of my good friend.

The hairs on the back of my neck stood on end. Whatever this was, it surely wouldn’t be good.

Feeling the presence of Raelas behind me, in the doorway, I reached forward to lift the letter from the bed, and I paused for a moment before opening. As my eyes skimmed the awkward handwriting, only one thought came to mind.

‘Oh, what the—’

* * *

‘What do you mean “he’s gone”?’

I’d waited for Arzak and Corminar to return before revealing what I knew; the whole team needed to hear this at the same time. And, as far as I could tell, Arzak and Val were currently part of “the team” once more. We’d need them for what was to come. We were now sat around the table downstairs in the inn, ignoring an innkeeper who was tapping his toe but had realised that, frankly, there was nothing he could do to kick us out.

‘Like I said: Yusef is leaving Coldharbour. And Lore is going with him.’

‘Maybe Arzak and I have been gone too long. You remember we’re supposed to kill Players, not befriend them?’

You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

Alenna raised both eyebrows at that, but said nothing. Clearly Lore hadn’t filled her in on everything.

‘Does that mean you’re back?’ I asked. The question came out before I really realised I was asking it.

Val had no answer, but her cheeks flushed and suddenly the floor was very interesting to her.

‘Why he go?’ Arzak asked.

This was about the only piece of information I was dreading sharing even more than the fact that Lore was gone. And I was dreading it because I couldn’t help but think Corminar and I had a role in it.

‘He’s been… struggling with the visions,’ I said. ‘I think more than Corminar and I realised.’

‘Typical men,’ Val grumbled under her breath. Alenna raised her eyebrows in agreement.

‘What was that?’

‘Nothing.’

I chose to ignore it. Now wasn’t the time. ‘He’s… he’s been seeing our deaths. Or, foreseeing, I suppose. I don’t know quite what that means, but I’m starting to think here that he’s been working to keep us alive all this time. And, now, he says there’s only one way to save Alenna’s life.’

The doctor visibly jumped at the mention of her name. ‘Save… my life? What does it… Does it say what happens to me?’

I shook my head. ‘All it says is that, after Plyas, he can’t face losing any more friends. He’ll do whatever it takes to keep you alive, and in this case, that means leaving with Yusef. Learning from him, maybe. I don’t know, it’s not clear.’

‘He doesn’t say?’ Val asked.

‘No, I think he does, I just can’t read his handwriting.’ I placed the letter down on the table, and we all pored over it.

‘Fair enough,’ Val eventually said, when we all gave up.

‘Allow me to ask the question, then,’ Corminar said. ‘What do we do with this information?’

‘I mean, we go after him, right?’ I asked.

Arzak nodded. ‘Yes. Go after.’

‘Excellent,’ replied the elf. ‘My thoughts precisely.’

Alenna slowed raised a hand. ‘What about…?’

I could only assume the rest of the question was “...my prophesied death?” It was a good question, really. ‘Stay out of trouble,’ I told her. ‘No patients. No fights. Nothing. We’ll come back with him, and we’ll keep you alive. We’ll find a way.’

Alenna didn’t say anything, but I thought she could tell that she wasn’t going to change our minds on this.

I stood from the table. ‘Alright. Grab your stuff. We’re going.’

* * *

We stood now outside a familiar building in the western districts of Coldharbour, and Arzak wasn’t happy.

Since we’d left the inn, I’d noticed a change in the air. The thousands of cultists in this city had spurred into action, pale orange robes fluttering as they strode around Coldharbour. It was strange that they were still here; if Lore’s letter was to be believed, then Yusef had already left the city. I could only imagine their supposed “prophet” had given them a mission here. It worried me, then, when one of the cultists pushed a neatly drawn pamphlet into my hand: one offering huge sums of coin for fighters willing to join their cause. I pushed it out of my mind for now as we had other priorities—something that I seemed to be doing a lot lately.

‘No. Not this,’ Arzak said for the second time. ‘Not Tokas.’

‘It’s Lore,’ Val said, echoing what I’d been about to say. ‘We need all the help we can get.’

‘You don’t have to be friends with her. You don’t have to forgive her for what she did. None of us have. But she wants to make amends. She’ll fight for Lore.’

Arzak grimaced. ‘I not be so sure,’ she said. ‘Because Yusef show her killing me.’

"Styk"

Level 20 Bladespinner

Base Stats:

Vitality — 50

Intelligence — 224

Dexterity — 130

Strength — 79

Wisdom — 76

Charisma — 49

Skills:

Worldbending — Level 60

Knifework — Level 42

Stealth — Level 26

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.

Saved Portals II — Select a location to “save” for future portals. Until your save point is moved, you may always open a portal here, even if it is beyond your current Local Portal range. Mana is used only upon opening the portal.

Portal Relay II - Up to ten small-scale portals can now be positioned stationary to an entity, and used to communicate sound. In addition, your standard portals may be used to communicate sound.

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].

Gentle Step — Passive. Your footsteps are dampened on even the hardest of surfaces. Reduce noise of movement by 80%.

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%