Ar'Kendrithyst

Al and Erick descended the rooftop on their own, but Guildmaster Zago caught up with them on the street. Two other mage guild members flanked the older incani, one a brozescale dragonkin, the other a white-blue wrought in the shape of a dragonkin.

“Hold up.” Guildmaster Zago stepped away from her entourage, saying, “You… You did good magic, today.” She looked like she wanted to keep talking, but she didn’t.

“Thank you. You too.”

“No. That’s...” She seemed to steel herself. Her words came like disease out of a lanced wound, all a jumble and all at once. “Don’t go into Ar’Kendrithyst. Don’t let your daughter go into Ar’Kendrithyst. Bulgan… Bulgan did this. These shadows? He did this. When Mog kicked him out of the guild, Silverite exiled him. He retreated to Kal’Duresh, but within the day they caught him talking to shadows. He was then exiled for consorting with shadows, which led to… There are movements that you are not aware of…” She paused in thought, like she wasn’t sure how much she needed to say. “Bulgan wants to kill you and Jane, very much. I don’t know the full extent of his plots, but he used his contacts inside Spur to bring the shadowcats inside the walls. There is evidence that he is the one who planted magical corruption in the sewers in order to prepare oozes for the arrival of two level 0 humans out of the Crystal Forest, and I’m still not sure how that happened exactly. But since everyone always starts killing monsters in the sewers, it seemed to him to be a safe bet. The two children who tried to mug you when you first arrived were some of his contacts… Until they were involved in the attack on the Sewerhouse.”

Al stood by, fury hidden under a calm facade. Erick barely felt anything over Zago’s words, until the attack on the sewerhouse came up. Then he felt his stomach twist. The rest of her words began to sink in. Erick barely remembered a ‘Bulgan’. He was the giant incani who kicked Jane into a wall and would have punched Erick’s head off, if Mog hadn’t intervened, wasn’t he? Didn’t Jane mention that he was a Scion of Strength with over 6000 HP? Level 50 something? If today’s shadow incursion was because of him, that did not bode well, because if Zago knew about this, then the rest of Spur’s leadership knew about this, and with all these people knowing all these things, something about the battle would have looked different. There would have been people trying to kill Bulgan, or… Something. Was Bulgan in hiding?

Was Killzone waiting on that roof for Bulgan to show?

Was Bulgan waiting down at the battle, to kill Jane?

No. Probably not. From Zago’s story, it seemed like Bulgan wanted to be responsible, but not hold the sword himself, for some reason.

If the problem of Bulgan had been solved, then Erick fully believed that Zago would never have said a single word to Erick about anything, therefore Bulgan was still alive. And he wanted Jane and Erick dead. And Zago needed to tell Erick about all of this, for some reason? Maybe as a gesture of good faith? Something to do with the ‘planar’ designation?

And Guildmaster Zago kept talking.

“Everyone in the attack on the Sewerhouse is now dead. The shadows still living in Spur will be purged by the end of the day; you can count on Killzone and Merit’s soldiers and guards to complete that task. Mog has been systematically destroying the poison Bulgan has allowed into our city, so that’s taken care of, too. But Bulgan himself is nowhere to be seen. He’s not in Spur. He’s not in Kal’Duresh. He’s certainly not in Frontier.” Zago paused. She breathed. She said, “It is my opinion that he has become a Shade in the Dead City.”

Al cursed in some unknown language, full of hard sounds and emotion. The bronzescale and wrought who had been flanking Zago reacted to Zago’s theory with perked eyebrows and stunned expressions. This must be news to them, too.

Zago continued, “The upper echelons of Spur were made aware of Bulgan’s moves after he was denounced as non-incani, but until that first shadowcat showed itself, none of us believed that he would move this far against the people of Spur. I hope I am wrong about him becoming a Shade, but… With the extent of the shadowcat incursion revealed today, I feel I am right.” She breathed. She looked away. “The Quiet War is poison. Sometimes that poison is medicine, making us stronger by providing an enemy, but sometimes it’s just poison.” She paused again. She said, “I have penned a full report on Bulgan’s possible activities and will be amending it today with what I now know. As a show of good faith, would you like a copy?”

She waited for Erick to say something.

He said, “Okay. Thanks for telling me all this. I’ll probably come by the guild tomorrow to see about those basic classes, maybe take a few more odd jobs. I might get a copy then. Thank you for the offer.”

She stared at him. He almost smiled at her, but then thought better. He kept his face neutral. Eventually, Zago nodded and walked away, her minders trailing behind her. Erick held his tongue as she walked well out of sight. When he was sure she was gone, he resumed normal breathing.

Al’s anger overflowed. “Those fucking delinquents! I watched them grow up! I watched all of them grow up! Those oozes killed a trio of rookies who grew up with Savral!FUCKING—” Al smashed a fist into a nearby wall, cracking stone, huffing loud, then huffing softly. He removed his hand from the wall. A smear of blood was left on the grey-brown wall, and on his hand. He breathed out, calmer than before. “Damn… kids… dammit.” He flashed magic at the broken stone and it flowed together, removing evidence that Al had almost punched through the stone. Then he looked down at Erick, and said, “Are… Are you okay?”

Erick thought for a moment. He said, “Not really. But… it is what it is… I need to go get Jane.”

“Yes. I… I need to go get Savral, too.”

Al walked off in what was probably the right direction. Erick followed.

A violet glow heralded a shadowolf poking its head out from behind a small wall.

Al flashed. The wolf disintegrated.

The pair of them walked past where the shadow used to exist. The wolf was a settling pile of ash.

So that just happened.

They eventually made their way to the command courtyard. All around were people in adventuring armor, standing in three lines and talking to each other as the lines progressed toward six people in robes. The six people were paired off into groups of two, one of them holding a green truth crystal while the other wrote on papers on a small table in front of them. When an adventurer got to the front of the line, they showed Script boxes to the pair and the person with the green crystal— Oop. Pink crystal. There’s an argument starting. Now the guards are stepping in— The adventurer is backing off.

Green crystal. Normal operations resumed.

And there’s Jane and Savral!

“There’s Savral and his team.” Al said, “And Jane.”

Erick didn’t know what he expected from Savral’s team, but he certainly did not expect a bird person, a not-human with a mask, and an orcol priest in armor and robes. The orcol was ‘normal’ enough, but a bird-person? That was new. Erick and Al walked right up to them, ignoring the frowns and groans from the people further down the line.

Jane saw him and her eyes lit up. “Dad! Holy fuck!” She almost stepped out of line but Savral pulled her back in, and she let him. “Right. Can’t leave the line but, Dad! That was amazing!”

“This is him? I mean. Obviously.” The masked person said, her white hair— Nope. Her white feathers, glinting in the sunlight. “Human and all. And reaction from Jane. Very rudimentary math there.” She nudged the other feathered person. “You’re up.”

Al moved close to Savral and spoke in whispered tones while the line moved forward one person at a time. Normally, Erick would have focused on Al talking to Savral, but the white feathered person had nudged the sand-colored bird person at Erick, and the sand-feathered person looked like she was holding back something important to say. The woman, girl maybe, wore a practical pair of shorts, to allow her bird-like legs free movement, and a short t-shirt tunic, to allow her winged arms free movement. Her hands were like the fingers of a bat, at the joint right before her long feathers appeared. She clutched a no-nonsense wooden battlestaff in those funky hands.

Her face was human, and it was full of worry.

“Uh.” Erick held out his right hand. “Hello. I’m Erick Flatt. What’s happening?”

Like a dam broke, her words poured out, “Howdidyoudothat?I’mgoingfor[Nature’sFury]butthatlookedlikesuchabetterversionthatyouhavewreckedmyplans!Idon’tknowwhattodonowandJanesaidthatTHATwasabasicspell?Impossible!Pleaseyouhavetotellmehowyoudid—”

“Okay okay!” Erick said, “Uh. Wait." He heard 'basic spell' somewhere in all that. He looked at Jane. "Did you tell people?"

Jane moved forward with the line, saying, “That was pretty fuckin’ flashy, Dad. Everyone started theorizing around me. I don’t know how it started, but people figured it out, because… I kinda lost my poker face. So that’s that.” Then she frowned. She accused, “And you showed people in the command tent! Blame yourself.”

“Right… I did do that.” Erick frowned. He said, “So does everyone have names, or?”

“Ikawa Kali," said the sand-bird person, half shy, half so intensely focused Erick was almost weirded out.

“Gorgush Ammer,” said the bald, green orcol in priest robes and plate mail, almost like Savral’s. He was barely taller than Savral, but he was already massively muscular, with a spear strapped to his back.

“Lanore Oleo,” said the masked, white-feathered person, all nonchalant. Her clothes were normal adventuring stuff, but light weight versions. Mostly cloth with a bit of leather. She had no visible weapons, but then again neither did Savral.

Or Jane. The three of them must use [Conjure Weapon].

The line moved forward. Savral was three people from the front.

Ikawa quickly asked, “What was that spell you did?”

Erick looked from Savral, to Al, to Jane, and decided to just answer the question. He brought out the spell description and willed the blue box toward Ikawa. She focused on the spell, so much that Lanore had to edge her forward when the line moved. Lanore read the spell over Ikawa’s shoulder, but just enough to read it. She did not study it like—

Sand Harpy! That’s what she is!

He knew he had heard Savral mention harpies before—

Wait. Was Lanore the harpy, maybe? She doesn’t look like a harpy…

And then it was Jane’s turn at the front of the line. Savral had finished while Erick wasn’t looking.

Jane willed over a dozen blue boxes into a straight line in the air. She spoke to the wrought writing on the table, beside the dragonkin holding the green stone, “Jane Flatt. 28 kills, ranked from highest to lowest kill participation box.”

The wrought at the desk glanced at the green stone then studied the boxes, writing down some crucial parts of what they were seeing. Then they said, “Your participation has been logged. Next.”

Jane quickly moved out of line. Erick followed her to the side of the command courtyard. In the shade of a building, Savral, Al, Jane, and Erick, waited for the rest of Savral’s team.

“You look a bit stunned, Dad.” Jane explained to him, “The Mage Guild is going to clean up the fight and divvy up the rads and such based on what you contributed to the fight.”

“I got that.” Erick went with the conversation, even though the precision he saw before him was not the reason he was ‘a bit stunned’. “This is so organized, and right after a battle? I expected… I don’t know.”

Savral said, “Something like this hasn’t happened since I was a kid but the people in charge remember how it goes. They’ll be done with this part today. Cleanup in the next two.”

Lanore joined them in the shadow of the building, saying, “They said rads or gold will be available in a ten-day. How true is that?”

Al said, “More like three days. They told you ten days to keep the rush from coming right away.”

“Nice!” Lanore’s eyes brightened, her white feather-hair rising. “I’m going tomorrow.”

“You’ll just piss them off,” Savral said. “I’m going in seven days.”

“Hmm… Maybe I’ll go in seven days, too.”

When the final person in Savral’s team exited the line, Jane, Lanore, and Gogrush wanted to celebrate at a tavern. But Savral said, “We’re going to the Sewerhouse and I’m cooking, but go buy beer. And meat. A lot of people will have leveled today; so hurry.”

Jane eyed Erick, whispering to him, “How much did you level today?”

Erick saw a bunch of blue boxes hovering just outside his vision, waiting for confirmation. He did not answer Jane’s question, and she looked a bit put out by that.

As Gogrush and Lanore called for her to join them, Jane said to Erick, “See you at the sewerhouse. We have lots to discuss.”

Erick couldn’t hide his reaction to that. So he covered for whatever was happening with his face, by saying, “Yes, we do, Jane. Lots and lots. Don’t wander off into Ar’Kendrithyst, okay?”

Jane cocked her head in confusion. Lanore and Gogrush were already down the street. Jane paused, then nodded, and rushed to catch up to Savral’s teammates. Well. Two of Savral’s teammates. The remaining one walked with Al, Savral, and Erick, back to the Sewerhouse, clutching her battlestaff in one wing-claw, looking like she wanted to say something the whole way, but not working up enough courage to actually speak.

- - - -

Erick excused himself upstairs to his and Jane’s apartment. He collapsed face-first onto the living room couch. After a minute of eyes-closed quiet, he opened his eyes and took notice of the blue boxes hovering around him. There were… too many level ups. He almost puked, again. He did not like killing things.

Oh, he could eat meat, for sure. Who doesn’t love a barbecue?

… Maybe he should change his stance on not killing things.