Grand Game 346: Ambushing the Ambushers (Patreon)

Day Twelve in Draven’s Reach

I couldn’t believe it.

I had been found out. My mind turning frantic circles, I tried to work out what was going on. I had been discovered.

But by what?

Where were the foes that had detected me? And more importantly, in which direction did I have to flee to avoid them?

The only mindglows in range were the weavers behind me, and they weren’t moving. Besides, I knew from experience that my stealth was good enough to hide me from them. The crawlers couldn’t be responsible either. They were too far away.

Whatever this is, it’s something new.

The realization left me with a sick feeling in my stomach. While the who and why still eluded me, I was certain I had fallen into a trap—and its jaws were already closing.

Spinning around to face the way I’d come, I bolted.

But I’d barely managed a dozen steps before another Game message dropped into my mind.

You have failed to detect an unknown entity.

“Hells,” I swore. Not only was my stealth too low to beat my mysterious foes’ senses, but their stealth had no trouble defeating mine.

They’re mind shielded and cloaked.

Having no other choice, I kept running. I had only one objective: to escape. Luckily, the canyon housing the seed was small and shallow—just over two hundred yards across. Getting out should be easy enough.

“Ghost, where are you?” I gasped, readying psi.

“Heading your way.”

A few seconds passed, then Ghost appeared at the fringes of my mindsight. She was a hundred yards away, but still out of shadow blink range, and I adjusted my course towards her. “Do you see them?”

“Who, the crawlers? They’re heading straight for the seed. Their path won’t intersect with—”

“Not them,” I interrupted. “And not the weavers either. I mean the other four.”

A momentary pause. “Prime, there is no one else in the canyon.”

Ghost’s certainty could only mean she didn’t see our new foes’ mindglows either. This was bad. Very bad.

“You’re safe,” Ghost said, trying to reassure me when I didn’t respond.

“Hardly,” I retorted. “I’ve been spotted—many times over. We have visitors, Ghost. Four of them. And whatever or whoever they are, I can’t pierce their stealth.”

Grim silence followed. But no doubt.

Ghost believed me, even though her senses were telling her something else. “Are they constructs?”

“Perhaps,” I replied, uncertain myself. “But we can ponder the mystery later. Right now, it’s time to go.” Releasing the spell I held ready, I shadow blinked.

You have teleported 49 yards to Ghost.

I emerged from the aether on the northern edge of the mists— Ghost had been circling the fog—and less than fifty yards from the canyon’s edge.

The spirit wolf was not the only one nearby, though. The tail-end of the crawler pack was still outside the fog bank, and they spotted me instantly. Chittering in anger, the creatures charged my way.

I paid them no heed. The crawlers were comparatively slow and outrunning them would hardly tax me. Swinging about to face the canyon wall, I resumed my flight. Escape was within reach.

Wings flapped overhead.

My pulse quickened. Wings did not bode well. Wings, in fact, portended horrible things. Fighting back rising dread, I glanced over my shoulder and—

—spotted the familiar outline of an unholy chimera.

I squeezed my eyes, trying to choke back my panic. Worse yet, the harbinger had already crossed over into the canyon. Escape had just gone from probable to impossible.

Ghost had sensed the stygian too. “Prime—”

“I see him,” I replied, regaining my composure. “Get to the plateau. Hurry!”

I didn’t expect her to reach it in time, nor that I would survive long enough to teleport to her. But we had to try. Wordlessly, the spirit wolf broke left, arcing away from me and the rapidly closing harbinger.

I turned back to face the stygian. Now, I knew the ‘who.’ It was the harbinger who had laid the trap. The ‘how,’ though, still baffled me.  What allies had he found to detect me?

Dropping into a crouch, I attempted to recloak myself.

Four unknown entities have detected you! You cannot hide here.

Not unexpectedly, I failed. Sighing, I stood tall again. My fate appeared sealed. Drawing my blades, I readied myself to face the stygian.

The tip of the harbinger’s shadow crossed mine.

Stilling, I waited for him to swoop down.

But the harbinger did not dive.

He flew past, wings outstretched, and for just a second, I dared to hope I was wrong, that the harbinger hadn’t laid the ambush and his presence here was only coincidence.

But no, behind me, the crawler horde had drawn up short too. And they would only have done that in response to some unseen command. My reprieve, I suspected, was going to be a short one.

I glanced to the left. Ghost was drawing closer to the canyon's west wall. Swiveling about to keep both the harbinger to the north and the crawlers to the south in sight, I summoned psi and backed away in her direction.

The harbinger, meanwhile, was landing. Stretching out his hyena-like legs, the stygian jogged to a halt on the plateau above before swinging around and drawing to a stop. I measured the distance between us.

He was sixty yards away—out of teleport range. My eyes narrowed. Was that deliberate?

“Well, well. If it isn’t the wolfling,” the harbinger said. Furling his black crow wings, he stared into the canyon and pinned me with a smoldering gaze that was at odds with his mild tone. “I suspected it was you all along. And now, finally, I have you.”

“Congratulations,” I said sarcastically. Halting my retreat, I took a casual step forward. “But you will find me harder to kill than catch.”

“We’ll see,” the harbinger replied, backing up a step.

So. It was deliberate.

The stygian must have guessed the range of shadow blink. “Afraid?” I sneered.

My words failed to rile. “Not at all,” the harbinger said, chuckling. “But after all the trouble I went through to catch you, I’m not about to let you escape.” His gaze shifted sideways. “And what do we have here? Another wolf. Such a strange one, too.”

Ghost skidded to a halt.

I could feel the shock resonating from her in waves. My own astonishment was no less. The harbinger could see the spirit wolf—something I was sure he had not been able to do before. What had changed?

“Oh yes, I see her,” the harbinger said, seeming to enjoy my confounded silence. Leaning forward, he sniffed the air. “She is pure spirit, isn’t she? It explains much.”

“How?” I ground out.

He ignored the question. “Did you really think you could slay the void’s children with such impunity and get away with it? That I wouldn’t respond?”

I paid the harbinger’s question as much heed as he had mine. He was obviously in a mood to talk, but it was equally clear his trap was well conceived. If there was any chance of me escaping, I would have to do something unexpected. “Ghost, get out of the canyon. Don’t wait for me.”

“But what about you—”

“This is no time for questions,” I snapped harshly. “Do it!”

“I warned you what would happen if you destroyed the chosen, didn’t I?” the harbinger continued blithely. “You ignored me. Now you will pay for your folly.”

I didn’t wait for whatever came next. Breaking into motion, I dashed forward, casting as I went.

You have cast fade, blurring your form and making you 50% harder to see for 2 minutes.

My other buffs were still active, not having expired yet after their initial casting. Fixing my gaze on the harbinger, I readied windborne. I would have to close the distance to him before he could withdraw, and that necessitated the use of both windborne and shadow blink.

Four unknown hostiles have negated your spell. Fade neutralized.

I ignored the Game message.

It was no less than I’d expected. But while my enemies had nullified my fade, they had not canceled the buff, and like with everything else in the Game, there had to be a limit to the range of their perception.

If I fled fast and far enough, I would escape their detection range, and fade would reactivate. Therein lay my hope.

The harbinger, though, was not in a cooperative mood. Observing my rapid approach, he took off running clockwise around the canyon and, in only a handful of steps, went airborne.

“Damn,” I muttered, tracking his flight for a moment. The stygian was still out of teleport range and even if I laid down a windslide right now, it would do no good.

I would have to escape the canyon the hard way.

Spinning about again, I surged towards the closest canyon wall, feet pounding against the ground. Behind me, the crawler horde stirred to life and gave chase. The harbinger, too, it seemed had decided the time for talking had passed. Spinning psi, I set down my windslide.

You have cast windborne.

I hopped onto the ramp of air and sheathed my swords. In their stead, I equipped my cat claws and measured the height of the rapidly approaching cliff. Ten seconds, I decided. That was all the time I needed to scale it and escape.

The harbinger did not give me ten seconds.

Or even five.

A stygian harbinger has cast void prison. Duration: 1 hour.

Before I reached the end of the windslide, glistening walls of ebony rose from the cliff tops and shot skywards to encase the entire canyon in a dome of startling black.

Urgh. The harbinger had cut off my only route of escape. Not bothering to test the strength of the barrier his casting had erected—I expected it would be impervious to anything I could throw at it—I jumped off the windslide.

Unfortunately, the harbinger was not done casting. A second spell followed in the wake of the first.

A stygian harbinger has cast shackle spirit.

Ghost has been shackled. Duration: 5 minutes.

This spell binds a spirit entity with the same limitations as other physical beings, preventing them from passing through material objects and making them vulnerable to physical damage. A shackled spirit does not, however, inherit any of the advantages of being embodied. They cannot heal any damage they incur, nor deal physical damage of their own.

“There, much better,” the harbinger shouted from where he circled above. “Now, I have you and your pet.”

I landed heavily but paid my bruises and the stygian’s crowing no mind, having only thought to spare for Ghost. “Did you make it out?” I gasped.

She had to have made it out. She had to.

A pregnant pause. “No.”

The blood drained from my face. The worst the harbinger could do to me was send me to respawn in the sector’s safe zone. But Ghost… she faced final death.

And now she was vulnerable.