Grand Game 362: Figuring out Things (Patreon)

I didn’t intrude on Ghost and Adriel’s discussion.

As alpha and scion, I already had too much sway over Ghost, and I didn’t want to influence her choice unduly. The form she chose was hers to decide. I had already played my own part and reignited her will to live. The rest was up to her.

Two hours later, later, Adriel returned to the room I sat waiting in. “Has she decided?” I asked.

“She has,” the lich answered, not elaborating.

I didn’t pry. “Good. Then, let’s—”

“I will need your cloak.”

I frowned. “My cloak?”

“Ghost has made her choice, and given it’s nature, she will require an anchor. For these things, it’s always best to use a legendary item. They are nearly indestructible.”

“Alright,” I said slowly, “but if a legendary item is all you need, what about one of the others I don’t use?”

Adriel shook her head. “No. It has to be the cloak. Ghost and I agree it’s the best option.” Not explaining further, she waited.

Sighing, I removed my cloak and handed it over.

You have unequipped the Magister’s Cloak, losing 8% physical damage reduction and 4 Magic.

“Thank you,” Adriel said solemnly. Folding the garment neatly, the lich took a seat at the nearby table. “Now come, we have much to discuss.”

I sat down opposite her.

“First, well done with Ghost,” Adriel said.

“Oh?”

“I thought you took a big risk by confronting her like that, but you chose the right tack, I think. Her attitude has shifted remarkably.”

“That’s good to hear.” I gestured to the cloak I had handed her. “How long will the process take?”

Adriel shrugged. “It’s hard to say. A few days, perhaps. But once the ritual is started, both Ghost and I will be out of touch.”

“Then we should settle matters between us before then.”

“I agree,” Adriel said, leaning back in her chair. “To begin with, will you tell me your plans for the future?”

I nodded. “On the most basic level, Ghost and I need to get out of Draven’s Reach. We could use your help.”

“Of course,” Adriel said. “I have already started on that.”

I frowned. “You have?”

“We’ll get to that just now. What else are you hoping to achieve in the dungeon?”

I sat back. “Do you know why Ghost and I were in this region of the dungeon?”

She shook her head.

“We were looking for you.”

Adriel tilted her head to the side. “Why?”

“The New Havens,” I replied. “They want out of the dungeon, too. But evacuating the city is a mammoth undertaking and we can’t do it without you.”

“You need the possessed neutralized first,” she deduced, “which explains your interest in the mechanics of spirit jumping.”

I shook my head. “Not just neutralized. Dead.”

“You want to kill them?” Adriel asked disbelievingly. “All of them?”

“I do,” I said, not shying from her gaze. “That includes the archlich. The only way the city can be safely evacuated is if all the possessed are slain and the tunnel from the city to the exit portal is unblocked.

Rising to her feet, Adriel began pacing. “This changes things,” she muttered.

I frowned in disappointment. After learning Adriel’s history, I suspected she might be reluctant to help. Exile or not, one did not easily betray people one had known for centuries. “Then you will not help?”

She spun to face me. “I didn’t say that. But it renders all my plans moot.”

“Plans? What plans?”

Adriel side. “I have already arranged for you and Ghost to be snuck through Loskin’s court and to the portal.”

My eyes widened. “You have? How?”

Her lips twitched upward. “Loskin may have exiled me from his court, but that does not mean I am without contacts among the possessed.”

I slapped my forehead. “Your brother. Of course. You’re still in contact with him.”

“More than that. Farren and I have been working for years to figure out how to unseat Loskin.”

It took me a moment to parse that. “So, wait. You’re saying you are not opposed to the idea of killing the possessed?”

“I’m not,” Adriel agreed. “But slaying the possessed is not necessary. It is only Loskin we have to deal with. Kill him and the others will fall into line.”

I frowned. “I’m not so sure about that,” I said thinking of Castor and Avery.

Adriel smiled. “You forget. Without Loskin, the possessed cannot resurrect. They will need the help of another lich.”

My eyes narrowed. “Which means they will have no choice but to turn to you and your brother.”

She shook her head. “Not me. I’ve already burned my bridges with the others, and most would rather see themselves dead than deal with me. But Farren... Farren, they will work with.”

I rubbed my chin thoughtfully. “You and your brother have all of this neatly worked out already, don’t you?”

She nodded.

“So, why haven’t you acted before this?”

Adriel sighed. “Loskin is not stupid. He sees the same weaknesses we do and has plans in place to guard against an uprising from within.” She sat back down. “The problem has always been getting to his phylactery. Loskin has a mountain of wards protecting it, many of which have been designed to keep out other lichs. Neither Farren nor I can get within a dozen feet of those wards without setting them off.”

“The other possessed won’t help?”

“We have allies amongst them too,” Adriel admitted. “But none of them can get through the wards undetected either. The only option is an open assault. That, however, risks a pitched battle in the court—which we would lose. We’ve been trying to whittle down Loskin’s supporters, but Farren and I are still years away from being ready to win any internal power struggle.” She pursed her lips. “Perhaps with the support of New Haven’s army we could pull it off.”

“What if I could get through the wards?”

Adriel looked at me dubiously. “You?”

“I am not a bad sneak,” I said modestly. “And I have a few other tricks that may let me bypass the wards.”

Adriel studied me curiously. “Can you piece a rank six ward? Or for that matter, even perceive one?”

I hesitated, then shook my head.

She held up her phylactery. “This may look like ordinary glass, but it is immune to physical damage and all types of lower magic. It will take a tier five spell to destroy this. Do you have such a spell?”

Again, I was forced to shake my head. “No, but—”

“I’m sorry, Wolf, but I don’t think you sneaking in is going to work. The moment you enter the vault, Loskin will know. Unless you can destroy his phylactery before he arrives, you will be dead.”

I suspected she was right and didn’t argue further, but there was another matter I needed to address. “Call me Michael, that’s my name, and before we go any further, I think it’s time I told you my own tale.”

Adriel nodded “Go on.”

I took a deep breath. “It all began...”

✵ ✵ ✵

It took me over an hour to share my story with Adriel.

I started with the first day I’d entered the Game, and I took her through everything, glossing over much—especially those aspects I was unwilling to share with anyone yet—but in the end, I told her most of it.

The lich was someone I felt I could trust. But, beyond that, I wanted her help—and not only to escape the dungeon. Adriel possessed a wealth of experience, and her knowledge of the Houses and the ancients surpassed that of anyone else I had access to.

Simply put, I needed her wholehearted support.

“That’s quite the tale... Michael,” Adriel said when I was finished. “You’ve had a most eventful entry into the Game.”

I laughed. “That’s one way to put it.”

I leaned forward across the table. “I know you’ve already committed to helping me, but will you teach me too? About the Houses, the ancients, the Primes, and everything else I need to know?”

Adriel smiled. “Everything is a tall order,” she murmured. “But I take your meaning and I will try.” Her smile flickered, then died. “Assuming we have time, of course.”

I frowned. “I’m not sure what you mean.”

“We’ve talked about Loskin, and we both agree he must die. But there is another threat in the dungeon that we’ve not spoken of yet.”

“The stygians,” I guessed.

“Correct. The nether cannot be allowed to claim Draven’s Reach.”

“You said something similar the other day, I recall. What makes this sector so important?”

Adriel steepled her fingers before her. “You’ve met a guardian, correct?”

I raised one eyebrow, surprised by the turn the conversation was taking. “That’s right, Kolath. What of it?”

“Draven’s Reach is home to another guardian named, not-so-coincidentally, Draven.”

I stared at her in astonishment while I began to connect the dots in my mind. “That makes... sense,” I said finally. “Is Draven a giant stone statue like Kolath?”

Adriel nodded.

“I’ve not run across him yet, then. Where is he?”

“In the center of the dungeon, not far from the safe zone.”

I frowned.

“That’s right,” Adriel said, seeing my expression. “You’ve been to the safe zone already. But you wouldn’t have seen him because of the nether.”

My eyes narrowed as I put those two facts together. “I suppose it’s no coincidence either that most of the nether in the dungeon is concentrated around Draven’s location?”

A fleeting smile touched Adriel’s lips. “You’re correct; it isn’t happenstance. Draven is under assault by the stygians and has been so for decades.”

I pinched the bridge of my nose. Things were beginning to make sense.  That a guardian was present in the sector raised the stakes significantly. It explained why a stygian Power—a creature who’s like I’d never heard of before, much less seen—was present in the dungeon, it perhaps even explained the harbinger’s distraction and the unusual use the seeds had been put to.

What I did not understand, though, was why the void would choose to attack a fortified point like Draven’s Reach. By all accounts, the guardians were the ones upholding the barriers around the dungeons—which meant Draven Reach’s own defenses would be superior to most.

I looked up at Adriel. “Why would the void strike here of all places, though? Wouldn’t it make more sense for the stygians to invade other weaker dungeons first?”

“What makes you think they haven’t?” Adriel asked mildly.

I opened my mouth to protest that I would’ve heard if they had, then closed it with a snap as I realized how naïve that sounded.

“The void has assuredly already claimed other dungeons,” Adriel said, unconsciously echoing my own thoughts. “But I am sure the new Powers have gone to great lengths to cover up such instances.” She threw me a wry look. “Players may not care about the odd Kingdom sector disappearing, but dare a dungeon go ‘missing’? That would have them up in arms.”

I found myself nodding in agreement. Were all those ‘locked’ faction dungeons in Nexus truly locked?

“But to get back to your original question: why Draven’s Reach,” Adriel said. “It is no coincidence that the void is also present in two of the sectors connected to this one.”

My brows furrowed. “Uhm, I don’t follow.”

“The New Haven’s home sector has fallen to the void, and the hidden sector you entered from has also been invaded. What does that tell you?”

I pondered the question for a minute.

It did seem improbable, given how many sectors there were in the Kingdom, that three so closely interconnected sectors would be threatened by the void almost simultaneously. And if it was not coincidence, it meant…

“The nether can somehow sense the ley lines joining sectors,” I said slowly, “and it is using them to spread.”

“You’ve got it,” Adriel said. “That’s exactly how the stygians extend their reach. They follow the ley lines. It’s how the void found Draven’s Reach in the first place, and it is also why it is so desperate to claim this sector.”

I scratched my head. “You’ve lost me again.”

Adriel smiled. “Understandable. This is not stuff you should know. In fact, I suspect many of the new Powers don’t either. It all centers around the guardian. Draven is tasked with upholding the barrier around dozens, if not more, sectors. Which means he himself is an anchor point for multiple ley lines, one for each one of those sectors. If Draven falls—”

“—then the void can claim those sectors too,” I finished for her in dismayed understanding.

“Not only that,” Adriel added, “The guardians are all interconnected. They have their own network through which they communicate. One of those myriads of ley lines inside Draven will lead to another guardian.”

I didn’t need the lich to spell out the rest. “So, taking Draven’s Reach will give the stygians another attack point from which to assault the rest of the network.” I shook my head in bemused horror. “Moving from guardian to guardian, the nether can quickly overrun the entire Endless Dungeon that way.”

“Not quickly,” Adriel corrected. “The network is not as fragile as that, and the guardians themselves are tough and difficult to overcome. Even weakened as he is, Draven has been holding off the void for years.”

“And,” I said, articulating my thoughts aloud, “the guardians may have already taken measures to protect the network.”

“What makes you think that?” Adriel asked curiously.

“Something Kolath mentioned. He said his brethren were not responding to his hails. Could Draven have severed himself from the guardian network, disconnecting himself from his fellows?”

Adriel rubbed her chin thoughtfully. “Perhaps... He would have had to have done it when he was awake, though.”

“Then, that explains—”

I broke off as the implications of the rest of what Adriel had said penetrated. “Wait, Draven is asleep?” I exclaimed. “Why? He is under assault!”

The lich sighed. “The guardians are wonderous creations, one of the greatest marvels in a world full of such. But as powerful as they are, Draven and his kindred share the same weakness all constructs do: they must be powered.”

Adriel’s words sparked another half-buried memory. What had Kolath said? Something about receiving energy from the amulet I’d given him... “They require tithes from players to stay awake,” I realized aloud.

“Correct. Every dungeon that houses a guardian is configured to provide its construct with the necessary energy to keep him or her awake.” Adriel shook her head sadly. “But the dungeons can’t do so alone. Player intervention is required. Players go through the dungeon and collect artifact fragments which they offer to the guardian, who uses them to replenish his energy stores. In turn, the players get rewarded for their efforts by the Game. A happy symbiosis—when it works.”

I nodded. “But since the Draven’s Reach entrance sector has been overrun by the nether, no player has come through the dungeon for centuries and no one has completed the Emblem of the Reach.” Digging out my collection of mosaic tiles, I spread them out across the table.

Adriel’s eyebrows rose in mild surprise. “You’ve been busy, I see.”

I chuckled. “I didn’t collect all these on my own. Most, I bought in New Haven,” I said and explained about Gamil’s shop.

Adriel laughed. “Enterprising of him.” She placed a finger in the unfilled space in the Emblem’s center. “But there is still a piece missing.”

I nodded. “And I’m guessing you know how to get it.”

She smiled. “I do. The final piece can only be obtained by slaying the sector boss.”

I perked up in interest. “And where would I find it?”

“Not ‘it’, he,” Adriel corrected. “The sector boss is Loskin.”