Chapter 135 - Reunion

Jack stared at his city interface, bored out of his mind.

Quest Menu

* Common Quests

* Kill 100 Lesser Zombies

* 0/10 Quests Available [20 City Coins to upgrade quest allotment.] [1 City Coin to Recall the Quest.]

* Kill 50 Lesser Ghouls [Locked. 100 City Coins]

* Uncommon Quests [Locked: 200 City Coins.]

* Rare Quests [Locked: 500 City Coins. 2 Sectors.]

* Epic Quests [Locked: 2500 City Coins. 4 Sectors.]

He was originally planning on letting Hannah figure it all out, but after the first day of waiting inside the turtle dome for anything to happen, he started to go stir crazy. He quickly realized why the turtles didn’t bother with any of this. It was a pain in the ass grind fest. In addition, there wasn’t much he could do to hurry it along. He posted the Kill Lesser Zombies quest two days ago, and anyone was yet to complete it. When he asked Kain about it he just gave a knowing nod.

“Likely the Golden Scale or another competitor vying for control of the city. You can’t gain city coins if they don’t complete the quests. So they just sit on them, depriving you of resources.”

Jack grimaced at that. He couldn’t even recall the quest and reissue it. Even that was resource gated. It was very likely that the Golden Scale was doing this, sending him some sort of message. He was beginning to regret the fact that he hadn’t killed any of them. I’m turning into a dictator a lot faster than I thought I would, Jack mused.

There was also the issue of the message he had received. He opened it up to read it over once more.

Dear Mr. Atlas,

Congratulations are in order for your recent acquisition of a sector in Broken Moon City! Breaking in, killing my arbiters, usurping sectors… you're certainly making quite the name for yourself, and I watch with delighted anticipation to see what your next move might be.

I’m writing to you as I would like to extend an invitation to join me for tea at my castle. Provided you can survive long enough to make it here, I would love to have a conversation with you about your future in Broken Moon city. I think you’ll find me a very… open minded Mayor of this exquisite city, and I would love to discuss what the future might hold for you. Please don’t keep me waiting too long. I grow bored easily.

Yours in anticipation,

Mayor Mortimaxx

P.S. Please forgive the bounty I’ve placed on your head. It’s politics as usual, as I’m sure you will soon come to understand.

Jack had no idea what the fuck to make of that message. He asked Kain if he had received a message from the Mayor when he took control, but the turtle hadn’t. Jack just added it to the list of shit Hannah would have to handle.

With little else to do but wait, that left him sitting around watching Tortuga's farm AP. Every so often they would open up a section of the dome to kill off a bunch of zombies. The amount was far less than it had been originally, however. Every once in a while, Jack would pop out to scout around. No longer was it a sea of zombies surrounding the dome. Now it was more like a shallow lake. The reason was Jack had made entry to the city free, and you could see signs of adventurers everywhere. Magic often lit up the night sky as adventurers cleared out the hoards.

A small portion of the dome opened up unprompted, causing a stir from everyone. Jack launched over to it, alongside Kain, both with weapons at the ready. A large gray Tortuga stumbled through the opening, several wounds across his body and panting heavily as he fell to his knees.

“Tally,” Kain said, going to a knee and helping pick up the Tortuga. “Where is the rest of the warband?”

“Attacked,” he panted. One of the Tortuga placed their hands onto him, and the technicolor paint spilled out over his body, seeping into his wounds and providing a sort of seal.

“Thank you, brother,” Tally said with palpable relief as he stood back up. “A large group of people caught us. Our soldiers are currently pinned down, unable to move.”

“Who?” Jack asked.

“Humans,” Tally growled at Jack, taking a step towards him with clenched fists.

“Peace brother. Many things have happened in your absence. He leads the sector now.” Kain held the turtle back. Tally looked at his leader with betrayal and confusion in his eyes.

“They at least say what they want? Who they were with?” Jack tried again. Tally ignored him.

“Answer.” Kain growled.

“I had hoped they were lying when they told me…” Tally started, “They said we lost the sector, and a human was now in charge. I didn’t believe them when they told me the dome still stood strong. It was impossible to believe that we would surrender to the likes of… a human.” Tally spat.

“Yeayeayea, humans are the worst and ruining the lives of everyone in the Tower. I get it. Now can you quit being so dramatic and tell us what the fuck is going on?”

This time he had to dodge a punch from Tally.

“Enough,” Kain roared, pulling out his large paintbrush staff and slamming the tip into the ground, binding Tally with his painted magic.

“They want a meeting with the human. Said they know he’s hiding in here.”

“I wouldn’t say hiding…” Jack mumbled.

“That’s it? No other demands? What group is it?” Kain asked.

“Who do you think? The Golden Scale,” Tally spat.

Jack and Kain exchanged a knowing glance. They had been expecting as much to happen. Jack though was a little annoyed Hannah wasn’t anywhere to be found yet. Things were bound to go poorly if he led negotiations.

“Where?” Jack sighed.

“Due north, about halfway to the entry gate of sector five. Be warned, they are heavily reinforced.”

“I’ll go with you,” Kain said, releasing his binding on Tally. “I highly doubt my soldiers will listen to you, Jack.”

“As will I. Let me lead you.” Tally agreed.

“No. You’re in no state. Stay and recover, and make sure the troops are prepared for our return.”

“You sure you can keep up?” Jack eyed the Tortuga leader. Kain was powerfully built, standing over eight feet with bulging muscles for arms and legs. The shell on his back felt more like a piece of equipment strapped to his back. He wore a chest piece that was a mixture of leather and metal. With thick bands of colorful, intricately painted leather straps wrapping around his arms and legs. While he looked menacing, he did not look fast. He was a turtle after all.

Kain just gave him a knowing smirk, and proceeded to the north side of the dome.

“All right then…” Jack followed. “Nutt! We’re leaving!” he hollered out towards the crowd.

The one thing the Tortuga seemed to like less than humans were goblins. Nutt wasn’t making any friends inside the dome, largely due to the fact that word spread pretty fast he had used their remains to make potions. The real nail in his coffin had been his outright refusal to return the shells he had stolen. After the first day he had asked to borrow Wiggleworm so he could hide. A small centipede-like shadow crawled out from behind a small pile of empty supply crates and gave way to Nutt. Wiggle jumped back onto Jack’s arm and Nutt eyed his surroundings suspiciously.

“Are we finally leaving? They said they are going to cook me. This will be the second time I’ve almost been eaten on the second floor! Goblin can’t possibly taste that good, can it?”

“With the proper seasoning…” Kain grumbled as he pushed past Jack and Nutt.

With a wave, a small section of the dome opened up and several of the Tortuga warriors pushed out to create an opening. The zombies weren’t nearly as dense as they had been so getting out and into the city was far easier. Jack grabbed Nutt and jumped out, dodging and weaving through the lumbering zombies with ease. Kain barreled through them like a linebacker. As they reached the stacked housing that made up the sixth sector, Jack jumped upwards and landed on the roof, watching as Kain trailed behind him. The turtle gave a heroic leap and latched onto the side, crawling up with a powerful grip that ripped into the sides of the flimsy metal house. The second the turtle stepped foot on the roof, the house collapsed and both him and Jack fell into the middle of a grouping of zombies and ghouls.

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

“God damnit,” Jack complained, already annoyed as he lashed out with his daggers. Kain, for his part, cleared out most of them with a large circular swipe of his paintbrush. The paint that spilled off the tip solidified into a razor-sharp arc that bisected everything in sight.

“Perhaps we should stick to the ground…” Kain said, pushing through the broken remains of the house and stepping out to meet the zombies on the street.

Jack rolled his eyes, opting to stick to the roof in a more supportive role.

They were first met by scouts. Jack squinted as the air had a rippling movement to it, changing in color to match whatever its surroundings were. He exploded towards the strange phenom, slamming his foot into the unsuspecting scouts' back. She shrieked, eyes as wide as saucers as her camouflage dropped.

“Please I’m just a scout,” she quickly said, her voice quivering with fear.

“Scout for who?” Jack asked.

“The Golden Scale.”

“Ambush?”

“No. They just want to talk. I swear it.”

“Then why are you scouting for me,” Jack narrowed his eyes at the woman, who didn’t have a response to the question. Jack threw her down to let Kain handle the interrogation. As it turns out, they really did just want to talk. At least, that’s all the scout seemed to know.

“You’re going to lead us there. Any funny business, I kill you. Try to escape, I kill you. Got it?”

She quickly nodded, leading them down an alley off the main road. Jack still opted to follow closely behind from the rooftops. Them sacrificing a scout for the chance at an ambush didn’t seem out of the realm of possibilities.

More scouts soon followed, with almost every rooftop lined with one to two archers. A mixture of humans, elves, and clawsworn.

Jack soon had to jump down and intervene as Kain and the scout leading him were met with heavy resistance from soldiers down below.

“I heard you're looking for me,” Jack smiled at a grumpy looking soldier with spiked hair and a bushy beard.

“You Jack Atlas? The one who took control of the sector.”

“Yep.” Jack nodded.

“Just the two of you?” He said, eyeing Jack and Kain suspiciously.

“Well I heard you guys just wanted to talk… Didn’t seem appropriate to bring my entire army for a simple conversation.”

The soldier stared at Jack in disbelief for a long second, only nodding his head when a scout jumped down from the roofs and whispered something in his ear.

“Really came alone huh…” he mumbled, “all right, follow me then.”

“This is a trap,” Nutt whispered into Jack’s ear as they made several twists and turns through the run down alleyways. Jack couldn’t help but agree with the goblin. But he was tired of sitting around and waiting. Plus, nothing sent a louder message then walking into the lion’s den and, well, killing all of the lions. It was time he sized up the competition.

Their movement through the alleyways soon opened up to another large street. The first thing Jack saw was another dome of shells, albeit much, much, smaller.

“You guys really like that tactic, huh?” Jack nudged Kain in the ribs who snorted in response.

“Little can be done against it, it’s the strongest defense.”

“I feel like you keep forgetting that a random goblin figured out how to break into your precious dome with whatever ingredients he had on hand and a couple of hours of potion making.”

“Random goblin?” Nutt squeaked, “I’ll have you know I’m a master alchemist!”

Jack had also used his epic gun and emptied almost all his ammunition into the dome, but that was beside the point.

The dome was surrounded by about two hundred adventures all taking pot shots at it, trying out different attacks to break through and laughing when someone failed, or their flashy attack failed to leave even a mark. Legs dangled from rooftops; small groups had camps set up talking openly around small fires. It all seemed very relaxed.

Relaxed usually meant dangerous. It wasn’t like they were safely in the middle of a fortress or a camp. They were out in the open. These reinforcements clearly had experience backing them up. Jack scanned the crowd for anyone he might know, or anyone who might recognize him. The only familiar face was Zeth, the salamander he had first met. The crowd opened up and surrounded Jack and Kain, giving them a wide berth as Zeth slithered up to meet them both.

“You’ve embarrassed me,” Zeth hissed. “I open up my camp to you and you turn around and betray me.”

“I dunno if I’d put it like…” Jack said, scratching the back of his head.

“And you’re a criminal! There is a bounty on your head! Also, these humans recognize you. They say you’re an assassin who’s consorted with demons for power.”

“Really? That’s what they’re saying about me?” Jack squinted at the crowd. “I’ll have you know I’m the one who killed off the demons on the first floor.”

“Lies from the mouth of a criminal,” Zeth hissed. To Jack’s surprise, the surrounding humans bought into his speech rather easily, and he received several jeers from the crowd. He grimaced in confusion. He hadn’t realized his reputation was that bad among humans. Something didn’t feel right.

“I’m going to give you one chance to surrender the faction to the Golden Scale. Our mission statement is to protect humans, but I will order your execution if need be. This doesn’t have to be violent.”

“What, no negotiations? Also, what makes me so bad being in charge? I’ve already rolled out quests and made entry free. So far, I’d say I’m doing pretty well. No need to usurp the throne.” Jack rolled his eyes; this was going almost exactly how he thought it would. The Golden Scale didn’t seem like the group that could handle not being in charge of everything.

“What could you possibly have to negotiate with?”

“I mean… This?” Jack held up his hand and flashed the number nine. It seemed to work fairly well against the turtles, he was hoping it might calm things down here as well.

Some of the other races in the crowd stirred at this, and even Zeth stepped back wide eyed. But the majority of the humans that made up the crowd seemed unbothered by the revelation. Jack couldn’t blame them; he had been clueless to it as well.

An orc stepped forward and whispered into Zeth’s… earhole and the Salamander nodded along.

“Perhaps, I was a bit hasty with my accusations…” Zeth tried, “I was unaware I was dealing with such a powerful entity. I would hate for this to result in unnecessary bloodshed.”

That did surprise Jack. Just like that they had flipped. Maybe I got it wrong, Jack thought to himself. Maybe they really do want to work with humanity and aren’t a bunch of power-hungry goons.

Then a centipede jumped out of the crowd and attacked him.

It wasn’t actually a centipede though. Jack grabbed the assassin by the neck and slammed him to the ground, burying his dagger into his open mouth a second later. As he killed the assassin, the lifelike centipede cloak fell lifeless, revealing the human hidden underneath.

“You seek to assassinate us? Cowards!” Kain roared, lashing out with his paintbrush and sending a deadly slash out towards the crowd.

“Waitwaitwait!” Zeth screamed.

It was too late though, the powder keg had already been lit. The turtles hidden within the dome must have heard the cries of their leader and it came crashing down as giant turtles poured out of it, each a massive club like paintbrush of their own. Magic erupted from the crowd to meet them, but they shrugged it off as they charged into the crowd. Jack wanted to join the chaos, but he had his own problems to deal with. Several more black centipedes launched out from every shadow with long black scimitars.

Somewhere in the back of his mind he had remembered that he was also being hunted by the Black Centipede. What he really wanted to know is if they were working with the Golden Scale, or were just taking advantage of the situation. Jack could only assume the latter, as Zeth seemed moments away from actual negotiations.

The fight spilled into the alleyway, which had been a bad move on Jack’s part. He realized the assassins were likely leading him there as a dozen more jumped out of the shadows at him. They bled in and out of the shadows with ease, disappearing and reappearing from every angle. Their black blades were coated with poisons that numbed Jack to the bone with every cut he received. That was the other thing. These were all capable swordsmen of a caliber he wasn’t used to fighting against. He was honestly a little impressed, but not so much that he was going to let any of them escape alive. Jack exploded in a burst of speed and ripped through the three closest ones. The dozen or so centipedes baring down on him disappeared in an instant. The alley went quiet as though jack wasn’t just running away from a group of assassins.

He let his senses bleed out around him, quieting his breath so he could listen and find them. But there was nothing.

“Fuck,” Jack grimaced. He tried to make his way back to the fighting going on between the Tortuga and Golden Scale, but the assassins made that impossible. One would jump out of the shadows completely undetected, lash out at Jack, and then disappear again. These were true experts of their craft as they launched one attack after another at Jack from the cover of darkness. Soon he found himself lost, surrounded on all sides by black shadows and creeping darkness.

The lone alleyway filled with a large slithering shadow, and Jack took a tentative step backwards at a massive black centipede that crawled out. This was no assassin in a cloak, but an actual monster. Atop the centipede’s head was a small gnome with a pointy mustache. Jack practically dropped his daggers in shock.

“Cumby? Is that you?”

The centipede came to a stop just before Jack, raising its head so the gnome riding atop was eye level with Jack. Cumberlin stared at him with an annoyed look on his face.

“I must say… I’m surprised you managed to survive all that. Even managed to kill a few. Those were assassins brought down from the fourth floor.”

“What can I say, you trained me well,” Jack grinned at the gnome whose face went sour at the memory.

“Training. Hardly,” he scoffed. “I don’t suppose you’ll make this easy for me, will you? This floor is a miserable place to be and I would like to leave as soon as possible.”

“Did they seriously send you to kill me? I thought you were supposed to be one of the top dogs, no? Don’t get me wrong, I’m honored. Although maybe you should be a little insulted?” Jack asked.

This only served to make Cumberlin angry, and Jack was bitch slapped by a tentacle that came out of nowhere. He definitely hadn’t missed that.

“If you think I’m going to sully my name by putting forth any effort in killing you…” Cumberlin’s tone was haughty as he inspected his nails. He turned back to Jack with an almost disgusted look at his abdomen. “What in god’s name did you do to your core?”

“It’s complicated. Some asshole gave me an impossible task to kill a dragon and things got out of hand.” Jack glared at the gnome, who at least had the decency to look somewhat ashamed.

The two had an awkward standoff, Jack gripped his daggers as the shadows around him whipped and moved with an increasingly deadly speed. A dozen or so highly trained assassins and a powerhouse from the upper floors. The odds weren’t looking great for Jack.

“I’ll at least make it painless,” Cumberlin finally said with a sigh.

Before Jack could tell Cumberlin to go fuck himself, an arrow came raining down from the sky and landed in the ground between the two of them. It glowed a hot orange.

“About fucking time,” Jack grinned. The arrow exploded, and banished all the shadows with it.

Jack launched forward in a burst of speed through the flames, lashing out at Cumberlin. To Jack’s surprise, the gnome met his attack head on, deflecting his daggers with a pair of shadowy tentacles. The centipede he was riding wrapped around the gnome and pulled him back into the shadows before he could follow up with another attack.

Jack turned around to deal with the other assassin, only to find the entire world on fire. He looked upwards past the roaring flames. Hannah hung high in the sky, a pair of burning wings dripping flames and lighting portions of the city on fire with every flap. One orange flaming arrow after another began to materialize all around her, growing larger in size with every passing second. He squinted at Hannah who gave him a furious grin in return.

Oh shit.

Hannah let loose the arrows, and hellfire rained down on Jack and the assassins.