Storm (Part 2)

Adventure over for the moment, Idris opened his inventory. The thing itself looked unimpressive - a clear crystal, lacking the obvious shine of diamond and looking simply like it was made of glass. The description popped up without him needing to use Identify.

XP Crystal

Rarity: Exotic

Description: These crystals are the ultimate reward for waging Order’s war on Chaos and can only manifest under the most extreme of unlikely scenarios. By placing his or her hand on the crystal, a person with uninvested XP can transfer that XP into the crystal for storage. They can remove the XP themselves, or permit another to remove it and add it to their own personal store of XP. The owner of the crystal can also grant quests, sanctioned and governed by Order itself, giving as part or all of the reward any amount of XP from the stores in the crystal.

Initially Idris was unimpressed, even disappointed. So he could put XP into the crystal and give it to other people? So what? Even if they got quests XP was difficult enough for Idris to come by and every point he had earned recently he had earned out of great personal risk. He wasn’t about to grant it to other people when…

“Ohhhhhhhhhh!” he said aloud, epiphany striking him.

“What?” Eana asked.

This crystal wouldn’t just allow him to put XP in. It would allow others to put theirs in as well. He could take XP as payment, as dues, as a form of compensation for anything. He could, potentially, have the stored XP of thousands of people in the palm of his hand which he could withdraw and use to strengthen himself or anybody else he wanted!

“Oh. Oh wow,” Idris said again.

“What!?” Eana asked again.

Idris manifested the crystal in his hand and showed it to her. She examined it while he read out the description.

“Wait so you can pay people with XP?” Eana asked.

“Looks like it. If they’ll accept it I guess,” Idris said, wondering how much XP a gold coin was worth, or how much gold his XP might be worth…

“And they can pay you,” she said, “So you could maybe find something super valuable, sell it for gold, then trade that gold for XP. And get super strong but never even have to fight!”

Idris nodded along with her logic. It seemed sound. But he couldn’t just access whatever skills he wanted, he still had to train beyond a certain level before they became available. So even this item had its limits, but still, the potential of it was well past anything he expected to own at this stage in his journey.

He wondered just how many of these things were out in the world. There couldn’t be that many, given the description, but if he was the first to ever get one he probably would have gotten some other kind of notification, like he did for the dungeon quests.

Eana and Idris continued home, talking about possibilities for the item, what they should do going forward, what if Idris got kicked out of the seekers… and as they got closer, they eased gradually into a comfortable silence. Idris didn’t feel sullen or annoyed or even excited anymore.

Just tired.

He had been going nearly nonstop for days now. It wasn’t just the physical fatigue, but the mental relief of finally having Eana home and knowing she was safe made it clear to him just how taxing this whole saga had been on him emotionally.

They fixed a simple dinner of bread and cheese and, as the sun sank behind the mountains, the two siblings retreated to their rooms and Idris collapsed onto his bed. Fully clothed, unwashed, but with a full belly and completely out of interest in caring.

***

Pounding at his window woke him from a dreamless sleep. Torchlight outside framed a silhouette with hands cupped over eyes peeking in. Idris startled awake, hammer appearing in his hand even as he fell out of bed.

“He’s up!” the shadow shouted.

“What on Order’s…” Idris said, thoughts still slow from sleep.

The light behind the shadow made its features impossible to distinguish, so Idris invoked Radiance, lofting the light just behind him as he took up a ready stance.

The figure cringed back from the sudden light, but Idris recognized Chrys from Breakthrough.

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“Yahn?” he called out into the house, putting up a finger to Chrys in a ‘wait a second’ posture as he went looking for her.

Eana entered the living area at the same time as Idris, looking exactly as confused and tired as Idris expected he did.

“What’s going on?” she asked.

“Guess we’d better find out. Stay behind me though,” he added, “They looked like they were a few moments from just breaking down the door.”

Idris opened the front door, sending his ball of light out ahead of him to illuminate the scene but also, blind the people outside momentarily while he got his bearings.

In front of their home stood Gendra, along with a dozen or so adventurers carrying torches. Idris could make out the familiar face of Chrys in the crowd standing next to Galvar and, looking surly, even Tomme. He saw a few other faces he recognized from around town but nobody he had a close connection with.

He didn’t know what was going on, but he was surprised not to see any of the Seekers among the gathered group. He wasn’t sure if that was good or very, very bad.

“Something is happening,” Gendra said, “And we need you to come along with us, Eana.”

Idris looked at Eana and shared a confused look.

“You haven’t ‘needed’ me for anything before,” Eana said, “What’s going on?”

Gendra looked annoyed and opened her mouth as if she was going to scold Eana for not simply following instructions, but she calmed herself and said, “That storm. The Chaos storm. It moved to the Hive.”

“What’s that got to do with us? It’s too dangerous out there for Eana to go anyway,” Idris said, knowing how hypocritical he was being given he and Eana had spent the last several days dungeon diving.

“Normally I would agree with you,” the old woman said, “But this is bad. Very bad. A number of adventuring bands were camped at or delving into the Hive when the storm arrived. They were caught in it and, well, only one Scout made it out to tell us so far.”

She gestured behind her at the waiting group of armed adventurers, “These are what we could gather to go in for a rescue mission. As it turns out, Adventurers are a selfish lot who don’t much care what happens to anyone else,” she said sarcastically.

“What is happening out there? With the storm going, I mean, they just need to stay out of the Hive right?” Idris said.

“Apparently those storms do things to people. Their behavior gets erratic. But more than that the Scout who escaped said that the dungeon became aggressive. His words. Couldn’t get too much more out of him, I think he was worried he’d scare us out of helping and it's his friends who are still back there, caught up in it.

“And selfish as they are, there’s a few good eggs among this lot. And us folks in Irondale? We care about our people. So what we can’t make up in numbers we’re going to make up with in healing.”

She paused a moment before continuing, “So, yes, I need you to come along, Eana. I need you. We need you. All of those poor men and women trapped out at the Hive need you.”

Eana looked to Idris. He knew her well enough to see the thoughts forming in her mind. No matter how anybody felt about her, surely they could overlook what happened when she healed and remember that despite it all, she still went out there into danger to save lives?

“Are you sure you want to do this?” he asked, and lowered his voice slightly, “We literally just got out of… you know, the rest of it.”

“There’s nobody else,” Eana said.

Idris had to admit that even to him this felt different. Like a turning point moment for Eana. People had this vision for who she was and what she did. But if she could get out of bed in the middle of the night and be the person who made the difference. Not just one more nameless adventurer, but the most powerful and talented Healer available… they had to change.

People had to get it. Idris accepted what happened when Eana healed, and so maybe this was the point where the rest of them could as well.

“It’s up to you,” he said.

Eana stood up straight and faced Gendra, “I want you to… I want you to be nicer to me when I use magic. I want everybody to just stop being… I want them to be nice!”

From back in the group of gathered adventurer’s Tomme scoffed.

“Full on mercenary with her negotiations,” he quipped, “No deal.”

Gendra looked to stifle her own comment, frustration of years immediately evident in her voice she said, “Eana, I will do what I can, outside of that the only thing I can promise you is that if you don’t go, a lot of people are going to die.”

“Her price too steep for you?” Idris said, staring hostility from Gendra to Tomme.

“Okay,” Eana interjected, “I’ll do it.”

“Yahn, hold up, maybe-”

“I said I’ll go,” Eana finished.

Idris sighed, “Fine. But if she goes I go too.”

Gendra shook her head, “You might have noticed the absence of the Seekers. Eana can help us with the healing, but it’s still more adventurers we need. We don’t know what we’ll face but, without Conrad here, the Seekers flat out refused to come along.

“We were hoping you could convince them. At the very least they might open up their stores of gear and offer some equipment or potions - anything. After you’ve done what you can, you can meet us out at the dungeon.”

Idris was torn between surprise and disappointment. Hanging back seemed like exactly what the Seekers would do based on everything that had just happened, it just didn’t sit well at all with how Idris had pictured them before all this.

He really had picked the best possible time to piss them all off. But still. He had to try.

“I’ll do whatever I can,” Idris said.

“You’re a good man,” Gendra said, putting a hand on his shoulder and squeezing, “We can’t spend any more time discussing, though. Lives depend on us.”

“I’m ready,” Eana said.

A loud groan came from the gathered adventurers and Tomme’s voice rose loud enough that it was clear he meant to be heard by everyone, “Biggest mistake we’ve made tonight.”

“Put a lid on it, Tomme,” Chrys said.

“Worse than coming out here to begin with,” Tomme added, “I’ve got half a mind to head back to the inn.”

“You head back,” a new voice said, a big man with a burnished breastplate, “And you’re out. Breakthrough’s no band for cowards.”

Tomme rolled his eyes, “Only complaining, Galvar.”

The man harrumphed, but the group had an uneasy shifting now that he had spoken his worries out loud.

Idris bent down to hug his sister, “I’ll go as fast as I can. Be right behind you.”

“Love you, Idris,” Eana said, then punched him playfully in the arm, “Hate you too, though.”

“Yeah yeah,” he said, “Hate to love me. I get it.”

The two of them laced up their boots and tossed a few supplies into bags, or the Inventory in Idris’ case, and headed out into the night.

“Stay safe!” Idris called to his sister as he ran off in the direction of Irondale.