Feist and Grym both gasped together.
When you’re two hundred feet underground creeping through tunnels bored through solid stone by magic by creatures with inhuman senses, that’s not a good thing to happen.
Everyone’s heads snapped around in shock at the totally unexpected lapse in noise discipline from the oldest members of their party.
The Hyn and Rockborn were gaping, staring at nothing with exactly the same expression on their faces.
Errant swore as light swung around ahead of them, groaned silently, and exploded into motion at top speed.
The first Oculis drifting out of a cylindrical tunnel that had been bored through the side of the cave twenty feet up the wall turned two of its nine eyes on him, the rest in other directions, but wasn’t expecting him to be running around the walls at a speed a full-out race horse might acknowledge.
He popped the Wrath, and suddenly the whole cavern was lit up brighter than day. All the eyes of the Oculis instantly closed in shock as The Light smashed down into its optics, and even if it was normally immune to changes in illumination, getting the very bright Light of Heaven popped in front of it to stab down deep into its heartless soul was not something it could shake off easily.
Grace flashed, a stab and cut in one motion, Spirited Charge and One Strike going off, hewing through the unnatural flesh and hide with one bright shining stroke. The huge central eye in the center of its flattened body was cloven right in twain, the writhing tentacles on its underside convulsing as something unmentionable in Aklo was blurted out the bulbous jaws beneath it.
Its Levitation magic failed, and the Oculis fell away from him. Errant leaned back improbably far for just an instant, ducking back as a burning green Ray flashed past, and a cubic meter of the wall opposite him just vanished.
Everyone else knew exactly what to do. This run was blown. Before Feist and Grym could protest, the former was slung over Verd’s shoulder and the latter was slammed face-down on their Disk while the girls booked back the way they’d come at top speed... which, given the lightfoot they’d been practicing, was much faster than humans could normally sprint.
Errant raced after them, chopping off two eyes from the Oculis and setting it on vivic fire with a passing blast from his Scepter, Purity.
They were well into the darkness when the next Oculis drifted out of the tunnel. With nine eyes looking in all directions, the floating compass of eyeballs instantly saw its compatriot down below, unnatural organs all spilling out of its disk-like body, and cerulean-white fire quivering its many eyeballs as it was consumed.
Its massive central eye shone with grey light in a great cone, playing over the cavern floor one way, then the other after it rotated ninety degrees, looking for signs of whoever had done this.
Nothing was illuminated in the range of this steady, piercing off-white light that seemed to render down all of reality in its path, turning light and darkness to the same greyish hue.
The Oculis rumbled and swore, different shades of light raising cones from its secondary eyes, playing over the walls and ceilings, looking for a sign of the attackers, and finding nothing...
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A hundred yards away and safely inside a secondary tunnel access whose entrance was only eighteen inches high and so inaccessible to the awkward bodies of the Oculis, Errant slowly eased the concealing boulder back into place over the entry, knowing the Oculis would have enslaved creatures that would be joining the search soon. They had anti-scent protections in place, and didn’t leave any tracks with lightfoot, but the visual acuity of Oculis was legendary.
Having nine eyes might have had something to do with that...
The girls kept retreating, but Grym and Feist had snapped out of their trances and looked very strange... ashamed that they’d been the ones to break stealth protocol, and elated about something else.
Errant didn’t want to hear an explanation until they were out of danger, and given the maze-like combination of tunnels they had to thread to get into and out of here, there was no time for that.
It took them twenty minutes to reach the foundations of the city, and start winding through an unnaturally smooth tunnel that had been chipped out with partial steps and Sovereign Glue’d rungs. They went up it quickly, a Sound Bubble popped to make sure nothing heard them coming, and happily nothing was waiting up top to eat them...
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“Did something attack you?” Errant asked calmly.
“No,” replied Feist, and was about to say more when Errant held up his hand.
“Has something locked onto you?” Both hyn and dwarf blinked, looked at one another. Errant lifted an eyebrow. “Is something following you?”
“No,” both said together.
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“Are we in danger?”
“No,” they both said again.
He waved a hand glowing with Wrath over them, eyeing the Light playing over them calmly, his silver eyes back-lit as well. “You’ve no magic... ah?” There was a glow on their chests, radiating through their Armor, that hadn’t been there before.
The two of them looked at one another with strange expressions, and without hesitation stripped off their chest Armor and the clothing underneath before everyone’s eyes, the girls helping them do it quickly in case this was dangerous.
Both of them had strange Tattoos on their chests, right on the breastbone. They were identical in presentation, black lines surrounded by glowing white energy, but not in form.
Errant made a strange face, and played the light of his Wrath over them, noting that neither hyn nor dwarf seemed at all worried, and had a mélange of emotions playing over their faces.
“Those are Succubus Blessings, but the empowering energy is all wrong,” he judged, looking between the two of them. “There’s no demonic Aura about them at all. How did these two things pop up so suddenly on both of you at the same time?”
Feist looked at Grym strangely. “Sergeant, did you start dreaming again after a long time, about ten months ago?”
Grym nodded slowly. “I see the Chief did as well...”
Errant glanced back and forth between them, noting the change in address, Grym’s suddenly better diction, and the attitude. They’d always acted amazingly comfortable with one another, but this wasn’t an act. The body language was that of old friends and fellow professionals who’d gone through Hell together.
“Explain for those of us without strange Tats?” he asked calmly.
The two looked at one another, and Grym grunted to Feist to go ahead.
“They are the Marks of Sage Sama. She... she’s out of Nightmare, and up in the North. A Rift to the Gods of the Warp has opened up, and she’s taking the fight to them.”
“Sage... Sama?” Errant asked, lifting an eyebrow.
“Sama Rantha, the Sage of Swords.” Errant tilted his head slightly at Feist’s reply, glancing at his sister and the girls. “Uh... you know Sage Sama?” Feist asked, startled.
“I might. Just bad timing. Let’s get everyone out of here and bring this up with Hazé. You said a Warp Rift up north?”
“North and east of the Sidhete. They are sending out warbands all over the place, fighting everything they see.”
“Well.” He looked at the girls again. “Looks like you’re going north!”
-----------
Hazé and Errant looked at one another as Feist and Grym finished relating their tale.
“Eight or nine years in Nightmare,” murmured Errant. “Fighting every day?” His voice had a rueful tone to it that couldn’t be disguised. That... was a true Karmic Buffet, all-you-can-eat grinding leveling of the most horrible kind, shoved right down your throat, thank you, may I have another... “And here I thought I was staying busy...”
“This fight in the North will be the same. The Warp Gods have basically an unlimited number of followers. We’ll be able to fight as much as we like,” Hazé murmured, and glanced at the three girls. “Everyone. I told you how important combat experience is. This... is an opportunity to earn a lot of it. And the Levels and Masteries that go with it.”
There was no hiding their eagerness. The girls knew perfectly well that they were much more dangerous than normal people, and had been told how the most fundamental magic of Leveling worked. This was a chance to fight a LOT.
“Who is this Sage Sama? You act like she’s familiar to you all,” Verd asked, looking at the four ‘elders’, such as they were.
Errant eyed Feist and Grym, who were also curious. “I only know her in passing. She once learned One Strike swordplay from me, but she didn’t pursue the Grandmastery, going to find her own path. She’s not a Warlock, after all.”
“What!” Feist blurted out. “You’re a Grandmaster? And you taught Sage Sama?” His expression was just stunned.
“Yes,” Errant admitted, and Veis’ eyes grew really wide at these words from her brother. “But only One Strike swordplay, no different than teaching anyone else. Like I said, she was working on her own road, not sure if she finished it...”
“She did,” Hazé interjected, and he lifted an eyebrow as all eyes turned to her. “’The Sword is a Shitty Weapon’,” the Archtheurge informed them. “It’s, ah, somewhat more involved than One Striking, as I understand it, I never went too much into it. And I’ve no idea where the Sage of Swords Title comes from.” But the ringing underneath her words confirmed it was a True Title.
“So, dur Grandmaster title bin?” Grym asked cautiously, his accent valiantly attempting to return.
“The Pure Sword,” he replied calmly, and the words rang in the air, changing the faces of everyone yet further. Hazé just nodded.
“So, this Sama has her own Title, one more than you?” Amber conjectured, fishing for more.
“Errant’s Title is actually two of them: Grandmaster One Sword, and Purely Bound. I imagine Sama’s is the same,” Hazé interjected calmly, as the Titles rang in the air. “We’re definitely going up there to meet your elder sister...”
“Elder... sister?” Veis repeated, as the girls’ jaws dropped.
“She’s a hagchild?” Amber blurted out. “What... what kind?”
“Annis,” Hazé informed them calmly.
Greenhag, stormcrone, and shellycoat daughters all looked at one another in shock.
Oh, nothing was going to stop them from heading north now...
“Lady Hazé, Grym and I would be obliged if you could deliver us back home to the Kalden lands,” Feist stated firmly. “The warbands of the Warp are threatening our homelands, and we’re going to stop them.”
“And reunite with your Sage on the way? That’s fine. But we’ll have to make it a two-for-one.” Her emerald eyes glittered.
“Oh?” Grym grunted.
“I believe there is one more location using Rockborn slaves in the city. They’ve increased security, and doubtless have all sorts of nasty tricks ready.” She eyed the pair of them unblinkingly. “Since you’re leaving, there’s not a whole lot of reason to be as discreet as before, is there?”
Feist and Grym looked at one another, and the same kind of fire rose in their eyes. “No, my lady, I don’t believe there is,” Feist replied, very softly. He glanced at the girls. “I think you should be planning to leave the city tomorrow. Grym and I will handle this, with the lady’s help.” Errant, of course, couldn’t conceal his identity, so he couldn’t be seen assisting.
The three girls nodded and promptly bolted from the room together. The wagon and Tabi would be ready to leave shortly.
“Are there going to be any problems with us leaving the Oculis problem?” Hazé asked Errant.
“All these knights and Inquisition agents should be useful for something,” Errant just smiled with a wink. “When you reach the north, come back and fetch me. My place is here, but zipping off to eat at the Buffet just sounds incredibly attractive...”
She nodded, and watched as he rose and left the room. The plans the three of them were going to make he didn’t need to be there for...