Grand Game 329: New Haven (Patreon)

As I ambled through the city gates, a squad of waiting soldiers surged forward to form a solid block around me.

Multiple unknown entities have failed to pierce your disguise.

Multiple unknown entities have failed to pierce your disguise.

Multiple unknown entities have…

…

Ignoring both the guards and Game alerts, I stood on my tiptoes and peered at the city beyond. The streets bordering the walls were devoid of civilians. That was not to say they were empty.

Armed warriors rushed to and fro, either climbing up to the parapets or descending. I counted one thousand soldiers in all, and those were just the ones I could see.

I whistled softly. New Haven had a sizable army at its command.

A tower door banged open, and Elron strode out to place himself at the head of my guard contingent. Not acknowledging my presence in the least, he waved the column onwards.

The marshal, I suspected, was trying to make a statement. You are my prisoner, his posturing seemed to say. And perhaps he even believed that, but it was far from true. Escape was only a short hop away, and neither the guards nor Elron’s brusque treatment unsettled me.

If anything, I found it amusing.

“March!” the sergeant in charge barked.

The soldiers trotted forward, and I with them, craning my neck to take in the passing sights. For the first minute, there was not much to see, only more soldiers.

After nearly a dozen streets, I caught my first glimpse of a civilian. It was an orc, green-skinned and laughing as he chatted to his dwarven companion. A street over, we passed a mixed group of human and orc kids. Then a pair of elven merchants.

Ten minutes and scores of civilians later, it became clear that no one species dominated New Haven. It was equally home to orcs, dwarves, humans, and dark elves. I spotted other races too, but they were far more uncommon and, invariably, gathered together in tight-knit groups.

Interestingly enough, even though all the civilians were low leveled—beneath rank five—they were well-armed, and there was a pervasive sense of… readiness.

Like in any city, the watch patrolled the streets. But in New Haven, they were armed with pikes and shields, not cudgels. The children that played in the streets all had whistles slung around their necks and wore color-coded armbands—emergency spotters?

Houses were block-shaped and their insides as comfortable as any home. But each had an internal staircase running to their flat rooftops. In a pinch, they could be made to serve as a platform for archers to fire from.

Vendor stalls lined the city’s many squares, with their owners proclaiming their wares’ virtues like all merchants did. A second look, though, revealed the sharpened poles decorating their sides. It would not take much, I suspected, to turn the stalls into makeshift barricades.

But the overt display of martial readiness aside, the city was...

…ordinary.

Our company drew more than a few stares, but no one looked too long or too hard. And those that did, almost universally focused on Elron, nodding respectfully as he passed. The marshal, it seemed, was well-known.

“Do you know where we’re headed?” Ghost asked.

I didn’t glance in her direction. The spirit wolf was keeping pace with our company and hovered about thirty yards to my right. So far no one appeared to have noticed her. “They must be taking me to whoever is in charge.”

“Isn’t that the marshal?”

“He’s just a soldier. A place this big, it must have a ruler of sorts.”

“And once you meet them, what then?”

“He or she will ask lots of questions. And perhaps issue a few threats as well.” I shrugged imperceptibly. “But in the end, they’ll come around. They’ll have to. What I can do for New Haven is too valuable for the city’s ruler to ignore.”

Ghost looked dubious, but all she said was, “I hope you’re right.”

✵ ✵ ✵

I was wrong.

Not about everything, hopefully, but about our destination at least. Elron’s soldiers led me not to the palace I was expecting, but to a grim-looking building with a barricaded steel door and barred windows. There was no mistaking what it was.

He is taking his posturing a step too far, I thought and slowed my steps. “You’re throwing me in jail?”

The marshal glanced over his shoulder at me but didn’t stop walking. “Only temporarily and until we can ascertain you are no threat.”

Not posturing then.

“I did not consent to being held prisoner,” I growled.

“Nonetheless, you will comply,” he said equably.

Wrong again. It seemed the threats were going to precede the questioning.

“Or what?” I asked bitingly. Grounding to a halt, I forced my escorts to stop as well.

Elron turned around to face me fully. “If you resist in any way—” he shot me a look as if to warn me not to—“or fail to comply with the orders of your jailers, no matter how beneath you you think them, then you can rest assured you will never find the sector’s exit portal.”

I’d underestimated the marshal. Without being told, he’d figured out what information I wanted. But did he know how badly I desired it? I hope not.

“I need the portal’s location a lot less than your city needs saving from the nether,” I retorted.

“I doubt that,” Elron said. “Without our help you’ll never find the exit.” He smiled but there was no mirth in the expression. “Then you will be trapped here like the rest of us, and the void will be as much your problem as it is ours.”

I didn’t react, but internally, my anger subsided. Unwittingly, Elron had revealed two important tidbits of information. One, the city’s population was stuck in the dungeon. Two, and far more importantly, New Haven knew the location of the exit.

And for the promise of that, I would go along with Elron’s games—for now.

“How long? I asked.

The marshal’s brows crinkled. “How long can we hold you? For however long we wish—”

I slashed my hand downwards, deciding to do some posturing of my own. Elron could not be allowed to believe he could toy with me willy-nilly. “Not that. You cannot hold me if I do not wish it. What I meant was how long do you need to deceive yourself into believing I’m no threat?”

Elron’s face hardened. “Two days.”

I nodded. “Two days, then,” I said and resumed walking. I did not need to say what would happen after that. From the expression on Elron’s face he well understood my counter-threat.

✵ ✵ ✵

The next day passed slowly.

Every few hours, I made certain to renew my disguise. So far, none of the city’s populace had been able to see through my deception, and I was determined to keep it that way.

The cell I’d been assigned was bare but clean. It was also unwarded, which I confirmed using the spectacles of warding. Freeing myself would be trivial, only a matter of picking open the lock on the cell door.

I found the lack of magic interesting, and it made me all the more curious about how New Haven survived the dungeon’s denizens. It could not only be due to strength of arms. Surely not?

Just as puzzling was that no one had attempted to take away my weapons or gear—not that I would have allowed it. It all pointed to my prison being one only in name.

Was that by design? I wondered. Or had one of Elron’s minions erred?

With little else to do, I contemplated this and other mysteries. There was only so much thinking one could do, though, and before long boredom set in.

Toward nightfall, Ghost returned.

I’d set the spirit wolf to tailing Elron. She’d followed him all of last night and for much of today.

“Did you learn anything?” I asked, turning to face her as she walked in through the walls.

Ghost growled in disgust. “Nothing. The marshal returned to the wall today, and stayed there all day, reinforcing the defenses.”

Elron had done the same last night too. And it is what I would have done if I suspected the strange visitor to be a decoy. What I could not fathom though, was what the marshal feared. It could not be that he believed I was working with the nether. What sane person would willingly cooperate with the void?

Perhaps that’s it. Perhaps he thinks I’m insane.

“What about the rest of the city?” I asked, refocusing on my companion. “Did your scouting turn up anything of interest?”

Ghost lowered her head in shame. “I’m sorry, Prime. But I could not find the city ruler you mentioned. This place is just so big.”

I sighed. “It was always a long shot, anyway.”

“What do we do now?” Ghost asked despondently.

I sat down beside her. “I guess we better see to your training.” At the very least it would keep me busy while I waited for the clock to tick down on the two days I’d promised Elron.

✵ ✵ ✵

With only hours to spare on his allotted time, the marshal made a reappearance. But he was not alone.

Accompanying him were two blue-robed figures, carrying an unwieldy device between them. The pair, youths I thought, set down the item in the middle of the cell, taking pains to stay as far away from me as possible.

My gaze darted from the strange device to Elron. “What’s that?” I jerked my thumb at the robed youngsters. “And who are they?”

“They are apprentices,” the marshal replied, “and that is the device our mages have been preparing for the past two days.”

So, the city did have magic. My gaze drifted back to the object, and without further ado inspected it.

This is a basic diviner, a tier 3 divining tool. It contains a single-use enchantment that will reveal a player’s spirit signatures to the operators.

“Clever,” I remarked and rose to my feet, having no fear of the device. “Let’s get this over with.”

Elron nodded to the apprentices, and they began chanting. Shortly, I felt the weaves of a spell settle on me. Staying motionless, I waited.

Diviner activated. Scanning commencing…

…

You have passed a mental resistance check.

Your secret blood trait has been triggered!

Scans completed.

Two unknown entities have failed to pierce your disguise and your awakened blood has been successfully hidden.

The older youth turned to Elron. “He is a player. The diviner has confirmed it.”

The marshal took the news without any visible reaction. “What Marks does he bear?”

“A Mark of Lesser Shadow, Lesser Light, and Lesser Dark,” the other apprentice replied.

Elron’s eyes narrowed. “That’s it?” he asked. “He has no other Marks?”

Both apprentices shook their heads. “None that the device can detect.”

The marshal swung to face me. “Which Power are you sworn to?”

Tilting my head, I studied him curiously. “Why does that matter? Your device has confirmed I’m a player and thus capable of helping you,”

Elron snorted, showing more emotion than he had so far. “My people may have been stuck in this dungeon for centuries, but we are not ignorant of the ways of your lot. Player though you may be, it does not mean you are trustworthy. There are some we will not deal with. If you wish for us to come to an arrangement, you must tell me who you serve.”

I mused over Elron’s words. He’d said ‘centuries.’ That was a long time for anyone to be stuck in a dungeon. Just how desperate were the New Havens to get out? I forbore comment, though, and answered his question forthrightly. “I serve no one. I belong to an unaligned faction. We serve no Force or Power.”

The marshal did not relent, and I got the feeling he would not until he got the answers he sought. “I know of no such faction. Name it.”

I shrugged. “The bounty hunters guild.”

“The guild is not a faction,” he retorted.

“True,” I admitted, “but it operates very much like one.”

The marshal was silent for a moment. “Show me your badge,” he said at last.

I concealed my surprise. Elron was better versed in the ways of players than I expected, but I’d constructed my story carefully and had the proof he required on hand. Withdrawing my BHG ID, I showed it to him.

The dark elf scrutinized the card minutely before nodding slowly. “It seems you are truly what you claim.” Not saying anything further, he strode out the cell’s open door.

When I didn’t budge, he tapped his foot impatiently. “Let’s go.”

“You will tell me where we are headed first,” I said, not inclined to follow him blindly again.

“To the fortress,” he replied. “The council is anxious to meet you.”