Evedast, despite not having any adventurers of its own, saw many pass through it each week and so had a lot of decently supplied stores catering to us. We were able to find a decent potions place quite easily and then headed back off to a random tavern we’d designated as a meeting spot.
The door swung open to a completely empty room furnished with lot of red and gold deco and copious amounts of flowers. One banner hung from the ceiling beside the bar, on which was scrawled a word in Ruelevan-looking ideographs. This was probably one of those goofy foreign country-masquerading places. They’d serve you pieces of ‘foreign’ culture that were neither authentic nor tasty.
I stalked over to the bar and tapped the bell on the polished tabletop.
Lloyd sat down. “This place even open?”
“They left the door unlocked,” I shrugged. “No closed sign no liability for us.”
“Criminal,” he jeered.
“And you’re in here with me!”
“But I had the presence of mind to question it,” he smiled.
“Accomplice then,” I snorted and sat down at a table. A minute later the bell had returned no response, so I gave up and waited for Bia and the Verosavs.
“What is taking them so long?” Lloyd asked, boredly scratching at some blemish on his wrist.
“It’s Bia,” I smirked. “She’s probably dragged them on a detour to a cheesemongerer or something.”
“Ohhhh yes I did!” said the devil now slipping into the room. “I mean, I wish I did, at least. Cheese is just too good. Totally should’ve, stupid me.”
“That’s… fair. Cheese is good,” I agreed as Dan and Rosa walked in behind her. The two of them both set down their bag of groceries on a table. Bia probably had her stuff in the dimensional bag. She could totally have fit the other two bags in as well – hasn’t, whether as some joke of her usual calibre or just ignorance.
“So…” Rosa asked. “Are we gonna like… get a drink or something?”
“Just stick something out from what you just bought,” I shrugged. “This place is empty.”
“...doesn’t that mean we shouldn’t be here?” Rosa asked, sitting down. Dan was pacing the tile floor – he liked standing, I think. “Are we trespassing?”
“They left the door unlocked. Who cares?”
“They seem to have left a lot of things unlocked,” Dan kicked at the floor and a plume of dust preceded the creaking of hinges.
“Dan,” I said. “There are a lot more elegant ways to open floorborne trapdoors, including ones where you don’t risk immediately falling in. You could just pulled it open with a hand or –”
“Ari, I’m literally fine,” he sighed. “Now, if Rosa’d noticed it instead…”
“Well you –” Rosa started.
“Guys!” Bia harmonized. “Can we stop and take a moment to consider we just discovered a – ” she tensed and sang: “SECRET TUNNEL.”
“Yes, and now we’re going to close it,” I said. “As a shopkeeper I could probably excuse a bunch of idiots entering my shop if the door was open, but I could certainly not excuse them crawling into my goddamn secret basement.”
“Oh come on…” Bia whined. “It’s a secret tunnel! Think of all the possibilities!”
“I’m not seeing anything down there,” Lloyd interjected, using that perception ability of his. It highlighted the outlines of things even through solid objects, which must get annoying in monster hordes. Not that we get those much around here. “It’s safe.”
“You’re seeing into one room. Who knows what lies in the next one, or the next? For all we know this shopekeeper could be a fuckin’ serial killer.”
“Oh well that’s just far-fetched,” Bia said. “That’s not a profitable profession.”
“Of all people here I thought you would’ve understood the importance of fun.”
“Well, I feel like there’s a lot of people that have grudges to resolve,” Lloyd said. “I certainly would love to kill some people I had previous terrible experiences with and the world would be better off without.”
Bia looked at him with a look of horror.
“Exactly, ” I snapped a finger at him.
“You two are crazy,” Rosa and Bia echoed each other, one joyous one worried.
“No, you are. We’re not going in there.”
“Oh, Ari, look,” Lloyd said. “I’ll head in first, I’m a scout, remember? Anything happens I’ll zoom right out.”
“We don’t know –”
“Whatever, I’m heading in. Be back in a few.”
“You –”
He jumped down the hole with a thud, completely ignoring the nearby ladder.
“Well, landing’s okay!” he called from below.
I groaned and slid a hand over my face. “You people.”
“Oh Ari, you worry too much,” Bia said. “Lloyd’s at least as capable as you are aye? And I’m sure you’d trust yourself to explore this thing.”
“Well, no, but also my mindset is a lot better equipped to –”
The screech of abilities firing broke out beneath.
“Shit,” my eyes widened. “Rosa, Dan, stay here. Bia and I will –”
“We’re coming, ” Dan said matter-of-factly.
“To goddamn die!”
“They’ll be fine,” Bia said. “Sounds like Lloyd’s winning, anyway.”
Right on cue, the signature golden light of his execute went off.
“Come down!” he called.
I zoomed down immediately. No longer able to fault him for ignoring the ladder, I suppose, but I was in a panic. I quick analyze the arrival room: red banners, perpendicular eyes overlaid on each other sown in. Wood flooring, lots of papers everywhere, nothing important, drop a lantern for the zeroes, next.
Lloyd stood in the next room over two bodies, cloaked in red and the sigils on the banners. This seemed to be some sort of storage room, and so was the next room in the complex. Both were filled with rows of shelves – why they hadn’t simply been merged was a mystery.
Bia, Dan, and Rosa arrived down the ladder just behind.
“Woah,” said Rosa. “Who are they?”
“Dunno,” Lloyd said. “Don’t think it’s anything good though. They attacked on sight and look awfully cultist-ey.”
Bia knelt down and pulled away one of their hoods.
“Looks local,” she said. “What d’you think they’re up to here?”
The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.
“Whatever it is they ain’t good at it,” I scoffed. “Lloyd was able to take them out. They wouldn’t have stood a chance if put up against any important forces Haelcrien has.”
“Well it could just be weak lackeys for a weak region,” Bia shrugged.
“I suppose,” I replied, uneasy. Turned to Lloyd: “Are you seeing any more of them?”
“Several,” he replied with a frown. “This complex extends a lot larger than it should. Definitely in violation of several building codes – next time Evedast administers a level upgrade it’s toast.”
“It’s going to get overwritten by a fuckin’ sewer,” I remarked. When settlements receives a level upgrade it restructures a lot of stuff by itself. However the Governance drafts upgrades is still unknown. There’s also been some conspiracies that the Governance is building secret complexes full of deadly toxic gases into cities, which I find not entirely far fetched.
“It’s definitely something illegal that they’re doing,” I said. “Maybe this is a serial killer hive.”
Bia snorted. “Oh come on, maybe they’re just… making cheese?”
“I’d forgive em for that,” Lloyd said. “They’re doing Haelcrien a good service.”
“Oh my god can you two focus?” I said, exasperated.
“Whatever,” Bia said. “Why don’t we just ask them?”
“Well,” Lloyd said. “They’re kinda dead.”
Bia slowly turned her head. Rosa went white. “What?”
“I thought you would’ve known,” Lloyd said. “You saw my execute go off.”
“Oh. Right. Couldn’t you have just… incapacitated them?”
“Bia, they came at me outta nowhere. My perception ability takes time to register things, instinct doesn’t.”
“Oh. Shit.”
Rosa stitched a smile back onto her face. “So like… are we gonna go in deeper…?”
“Myself and Lloyd will. You two stay back with Bia and – ”
“Lloyd, your ability can check the tier of the stuff right?” Bia asked.
“Yeah. The cultist guys are all tier threes.”
“Okay, Dan and Rosa can come then,” Bia said. “I’ll shield em.”
“You are not a defensive specialization,” I complained.
“Support is close enough,” Bia shrugged, then nailed mine and Lloyd’s eyes. “You leave them alive, please.”
“I’m a glass cannon and they’re underranked,” I said. “No guarantees.”
“Try,” she hissed.
I rolled my eyes. “Lloyd, let’s go.”
“Right by ya.”
We passed through the next storage room and the next room was some kind of office space with a chandelier. A light punch to the forehead knocked the hooded man at the desk to the ground.
Another few cultists poured through the doorway brandishing various weapons, all eerily silent. I parried away a knife and twisted a sword (and possibly the guy’s wrist) away, kneed the third in the chest and the fourth took a trip through the purple meatshredder that was my dagger and hand.
Lloyd finished them all off with an area stun spell. Golden light flooded forth.
?Ability: [Consencrate] (Control)
Incantation: I warn of forces you do not understand; cede this land to deific hands.
Cost: extreme mana
Cooldown: 5 min.
Damage Output:
- none
Effects:
-
Tier I
- Apply [Stun] to all enemies in a circular area around you.
-
Tier III
- Enemies in range are knocked out of the circle.
-
Tier V
- Abilities in range of the circle with ongoing effects are dispelled for additional mana cost.
-
Tier VII
- Enemies’ conjured weaponry is dispelled for additional mana cost.
?Effect: [Stun] (Movement)
You are immobilized for 10 seconds if at the same tier as the source of this effect. If higher, time is reduced proportional to rank difference. If lower, time is increased proportional to rank difference at a much higher rate.
With how low-tier the cultists were and the bias towards low-ranks, Lloyd’s ability had them knocked out for a good few minutes. We had just finished tying them up when the last one leapt out of a side-closet – I grabbed them by the neck and slammed them against the wall. The hood flew off to reveal another local-looking fae woman, around thirty or forty.
Lloyd called the others in for the interview.
“Coming!” Bia called. I turned to the cultist.
“So,” I said with finality. “What’s all this for?”
“None of your bloody business,” the cultist spat.
“Well, I am formally acquistioning this business and you’re going to goddamn tell me.”
“We’re just trying to live our lives down here,” she returned. “Piss off.”
“You attacked me on sight!” Lloyd protested. “Obviously ya must be up to no good –”
“Lloyd, stay calm. We’re in charge here, ” I leaned in closer. I think I pulled off intimidating quite well for someone five foot. “What exactly are you all up to?”
“None of your business.”
“Will it still be when I… rip your heart out?”
“Ain’t that a little extreme,” Bia said, walking in.
“It’s probably like, poetic or something,” said Rosa playfully, though her smile was noticeably strained.
The cultist glared back adamantly. “You will have to reach into my soul and snap my faith before you get anything out of me or my compatriots.”
I glanced back. The others were still knocked out.
“We’ll see about that.”
“Ari, what are you…”
In a flurry of movement, I fished the little teacup of leftover Bottled Truth and tipped it down the cultist’s throat. Her eyes went a dull grey.
With a wide grin, I stepped back and clapped my hands in satisfaction.
“What did you do?” Bia asked, confused.
“Oh, just dropped her a little truth potion,” I smiled.
“Why the hell’ve you got that?” Dan said, suddenly interested. “Didn’t take you for a brewer.”
“An adventurer stays prepared,” I said, and turned back. “Now… what is the purpose of this complex? What are you doing down here?”
“I can’t tell you that,” said the cultist.
I frowned. The potion needed a bit to take hold. I gave it a sec.
“Okay, let’s try that again. Same question.”
“I can’t answer this question,”
“You – fucken – what?! Why can’t you answer?”
“It would violate the faith.”
“Some bullshit!”
Bia gave me a worried tap on the shoulder. “Um… Ari, maybe you just didn’t have enough…?”
“It’s bloody enough alright I studied that when I used this thing the first time!”
“What?” Bia narrowed her eyes and spoke in a voice very reminiscent of Duskir. Funny thing that she’s the person I referred to. “When else have you used this potion?!”
“Whatever. There’s no goddamn reason for this potion to not work unless this fucker’s sixteen ranks higher than she actually is!”
I sighed. “Okay,” I said, and pulled out my necklace. “Do you know what this is?”
“I can’t answer that.”
“Fucks’ sake!”
“Consider that maybe…” Dan started. “Maybe she’s just… really strong minded or something?”
I growled, face red. I stuffed the hourglass back into my shirt.
“Mind shouldn’t fucking matter.”
“Mind shouldn’t fucking matter.”
“Mind shouldn’t fucking matter.”
“Why not?”
“This thing strips away mind. Throws out all those fucked-false defences in the brain and makes the body talks straight to the soul.”
“That seems a little overkill.”
“There’s not a lot of ways to mind control people, so talking to stupid defenceless soul is much easier,” I said. “Fuck it, we’re out of here.”
“Wait – what about all the cultists?” Rosa said.
“Leave them here.”
“They’ll break out,” said Dan. “Tell people.”
“Let them. If they want to keep their little operation under wraps, they’ll keep to themselves. It won’t matter, and the guard won’t be able to find us regardless.”
“Well surely we should like, talk to them or something…”
Cut the rest out of my perception. I stalked right back outside, making sure to snag some of the documents lying around into my bag. I’d read them later. The Verosavs, Bia, and Lloyd announced their passage soon after with some racket and footsteps back in the other room.
Hopefully this has nothing to do with Grim and Arodorros. We’ve already got two parties on our tails; we really do not need a third.
Update: I lied. I'm sorry. I lied.