Grand Game 373: Hot on the Trail (Patreon)

Immediately meant five minutes.

It did not take us long to reach consensus on who exactly would pursue the harbinger. Only three of us—Adriel, Farren, and myself—would. While the lichs saw to their last-minute preparations, Regus led me back to the vault. There was something waiting for me there.

It was a loot chest, of course. A gold one.

“Go ahead,” Regus said, gesturing towards it. “We’ve been keeping it under guard, and no one has looked in yet.”

Ignoring Loskin’s corpse, which I noted no one had bothered removing yet, I crouched beside the chest and flipped open the lid.

The target is a: sorcerer’s coif. This is a rank 6 item that allows you to perceive wards of tier 6 and below. It requires a minimum Magic of 24 to use.

The target is a piece of enchanted mosaic.

The target is a greater attribute gem. It grants you 3 attribute points.

The target is an upgrade gem and allows you to improve any ability by a single tier.

I grinned lopsidedly on reading the description of the first item. It was an artifact I would much rather have had before facing the archlich. How much simpler would matters have been if I’d been able to sneak through the vault’s wards in the first place?

Still, the item would not go amiss, and it was sure to come in handy in the future. Removing my ranger’s leather helmet, I fitted the coif around my head, then re-equipped my headgear.

You have equipped a sorcerer’s coif. Effects: ability to detect tier 6 spelled wards.

The chest’s other three items were identical to those from the previous one I’d looted, nonetheless, I welcomed them—especially the enchanted mosaic piece. It was not just any piece, but the central cog of the entire artifact. Reaching into the chest, I picked up the mosaic tile.

A Game message unfurled in my mind.

You have acquired all parts of the Emblem of the Reach. Do you wish to combine the pieces?

Replying in the affirmative, I watched the enchanted mosaic disk in my hand grow, as one by one the other puzzle pieces materialized to slot in around it. I didn’t have to look into my backpack to know where they had appeared from.

When the process was completed, another Game alert arrived.

Congratulations, Michael! You have created the artifact: the Emblem of the Reach. This item grants the bearer +10 to all attributes.

It was a nice item, but ultimately not one I would keep for long.

“So that’s what it looks like,” Regus said, looking over my shoulder. “Keep it safe. You don’t want to lose that now.”

Nodding, I stowed the artifact in my bag of holding. When I glanced up again it was to find Regus peering into the chest inquisitively.

“Is that an upgrade gem?” he asked.

“Yeah.”

“And a lesser attribute gem?”

“A greater gem, actually.”

Regus grunted, then chewed meditatively at his beard. “I’m guessing you’ve also gained a few levels from killing Loskin?”

Too preoccupied with thoughts of the harbinger, I hadn’t actually reviewed my Game alerts from the battle yet, and I did so now.

You have reached level 195!

My eyes widened slightly at the Adjudicator’s message. I’d earned four whole levels, for what in the end, had only been a simple bit of thievery and sabotage.

“I did,” I murmured, absently answering Regus while I considered the rest of my player profile. My skills had hardly advanced during the encounter.

“You want my advice?” he asked abruptly.

I looked up at him again, almost retorting that I didn’t, before I swallowed back the words. “I’m always open to advice,” I said mildly.

The dwarf grinned sardonically as if he didn’t quite believe that. “All those tasty attribute points you’ve just earned,” he said, sounding a little envious at the notion, “if I were you, I would invest them in Mind.”

I stared at him thoughtfully. “Why’s that?”

“You haven’t met a void tree yet, have you?”

I shook my head.

“I thought not,” Regus said, “or you wouldn’t ask that. The trees are powerful telepaths.” He held up his hands. “I know, I know. According to Adriel, you are none too shabby in that regard either. But if you’re going to be battling the harbinger in the vicinity of one of those things, trust me, you want your mind as sharp as possible.” He gestured to the other gem. “I’d use that, too, to upgrade any mental defenses you have.”

I nodded slowly. “That makes... sense. Thank you.” Adriel had offered advice in a similar vein before I’d left her complex.

“You’re welcome,” he rumbled. “Now, grab your items and let’s go. Your ride should be here any moment.”

✵ ✵ ✵

I took Regus’s words to heart and put the gems to the exact use he recommended.

Your Mind has increased to rank 107. Other modifiers: +12 from items.

You have upgraded the mind shield ability to fortified mind. Fortified mind is a significant improvement over its lower tiered counterparts. This mind shield variant grants you full access to your offensive psi abilities without compromising your mental defense. When fortified mind is active one half of your psi pool is used to shield your mind while the other half stays available for psicasting.

Fortified mind shield is an expert ability and requires 5 more ability slots. You have 65 of 107 Mind ability slots remaining.

I found the benefits of the tier three mind shield to be particularly delightful. When it came to matters of Mind, I would no longer have to choose between defense or offence. Fortified mind allowed me to employ both simultaneously.

It was perhaps overkill improving my Mind as much as I had, but I was palpably aware that we would have only one shot at taking down the harbinger and the void tree. If we failed, I could not see us making a second attempt without weeks of preparation.

And that was time I simply could not afford.

Others of the Pack needed me.

It was close to a month since I’d entered Draven’s Reach, and with the exit portal no longer barred to me, I felt a renewed sense of urgency to quickly wrap up my remaining obligations in the dungeon.

Wings flapped overhead.

I looked up to find myself obscured by a shadow nearly as large as the one the harbinger cast. But it was not the stygian Power. It was Adriel.

My ride.

Or rather, our ride, I amended, seeing Farren stride over to join me where I waited on the edge of the courtyard.

Regus had already disappeared, citing some task or the other he had to perform, but from the darting looks the dwarf had cast skyward, I thought it might have been disquiet that drove him. The possessed seemed even less comfortable with Adriel in her alternate form. Still, his excuse might have been entirely fabricated.

In Farren and Adriel’s absence, the former security chief had been left in charge and tasked with keeping the other possessed in line. Not that, that appeared necessary.

Farren had wrested control by the simple expedient of not reviving any of the dead except Regus, whose own revival had mostly been completed by Loskin anyway. The threat of not just permanent death, but an eternity spent as a disembodied spirit—one forced to haunt the bones of its former body—was enough to secure the cooperation of even the most recalcitrant of the surviving possessed.

“Impressive, isn’t she?” Farren remarked as he reached my side.

I nodded vaguely, avidly watching the dragon descend. It wasn’t a real dragon, of course, but rather a flesh golem shaped in the form of one, but the likeliness and attention to detail was so astonishing. If I hadn’t known better, I would have believed it to be a real black dragon instead of what Adriel called it—a dracolich.

“Every time I see Adriel like this, I can’t believe she is my little sister.”

I turned to him. “You can’t do this?”

Farren snorted. “I can’t. Nor could Loskin. Adriel is one of the finest flesh sculptors ever to emerge from House Dead,” he said proudly. “What she can do, the rest of us can only dream of.” He gestured to the landing drake. “Adriel built that almost from scratch. Starting will the skeleton of a dead dragon, she added muscle, sinew, flesh, and scales. It was the work of a lifetime and her finest work ever.” He looked at me sideways. “Although, from what she tells me, I think she may have surpassed herself with your companion’s new body.”

I nodded, even more impressed by my ally. I’d known of Adriel’s, alternate form—it was how she had traversed terrain in minutes that had taken me days to cross—but this was the first time I’d seen her in it.

“I don’t know how I’m going to let her go,” Farren mumbled in a voice so low I doubted he expected me to hear.

“She told you what she intends then?” I asked him, not pretending to not have overheard.

The lich nodded somberly. “I offered to take her place, but she won’t have it. She believes it her right and her path to redemption.”

I didn’t know what to say. I’d known Adriel for only a short time, but I, too, would miss her. “It will save this sector and many others,” I said finally, as if that was compensation enough.

“I know,” Farren whispered, “but I don’t consider it a fair exchange.”

“Stop nattering you two, and hop on,” an exasperated voice said in my mind.

Farren laughed and turned to me. “Ready?”

I nodded, and he pulled me forward towards the dracolich.

✵ ✵ ✵

Flying across the dungeon atop a dracolich was both exhilarating and frightening.

Other than for a terse, “hang on,” Adriel made no allowances for her passengers. Climbing to altitude had been scary, but my agile hands and feet had kept me in place. Farren had struggled more, but he appeared more experienced with our strange manner of conveyance, and I was soon following his lead. Once Adriel leveled out, though, things became more pleasant, and I relaxed enough to enjoy the experience.

But my leisure did not last long.

“We’ll enter the central fog in ten minutes,” Adriel said in my mind.

Glancing ahead, I saw that she was right. The fog bank was an ominous presence on the horizon, and as rapidly as the dracolich was flying, it grew perceptibly larger with every stroke of her wings.

“Have you activated the crystals I gave you?” I asked, projecting my words in both their minds.

“We have,” Farren said. “Our nether protections are in active. What about you?”

“Breaking my crystals as we speak,” I replied.

You have activated 3 single-use enchantments, increasing your Strength by +8, your Magic by +8, and your Dexterity by +8. Duration: 1 hour.

I didn’t have many attribute-enhancing enchantment crystals and had been saving the ones I did have for when I really needed them. If any time was that, then this was it.

“It’s time we told you the plan,” Adriel said.

“That sounds... ominous,” I said.

“Nothing so bad as all that,” Adriel said with a chuckle. “But it will require sacrifice from each of us.” Her voice grew quieter. “Are you prepared for that, Wolf?”

“I will do what’s necessary,” I said determinedly. I’d come this far, and I was not about to back out except for the most dire of reasons.

“Good,” Farren said, tapping me on the shoulder. “Take this.”

Glancing back, I saw he held a necklace clenched in his fist. Grabbing it quickly lest it fell to the dungeon below, I stuffed the item in one of my pockets without examining it. “What is it?”

“My phylactery,” Adriel said.

For a moment, I was dumbstruck. “Your what? What were you thinking bringing that here?”

“It is necessary,” Adriel said serenely. “Before I can take Draven’s place, the phylactery will have to be broken to release my spirit.”

I shook my head. “But still... the risk. Couldn’t you wait until we’ve won to do this?”

“No. Farren and I have talked it over, and we both agree. We can’t wait until we defeat the harbinger to restore the guardian. We have to tackle both objectives simultaneously. The risk of failure is too great otherwise.”

“But... but…” My thoughts raced, recalling what Adriel had told me of the void tree and the guardian. The sapling had wrapped itself around Draven and he couldn’t be awoken unless… “You want me to kill the void tree while you two fight the harbinger,” I said, realizing what they intended.

“If you can, yes,” Farren said. “But you don’t need to kill the sapling, only survive its touch long enough to awaken Draven. Then Adriel can take his place.” He paused. “That way, even if we lose the fight against the harbinger, we still win. The guardian will be restored to full strength and he—she, I mean—can begin restoring the barriers around the dungeons.”

I said nothing, recognizing the truth of his words.

“It is a lot to ask,” Adriel added, “but of the three of us, only you stand a chance of withstanding the tree’s psionic touch long enough to awaken the guardian.”

I thought for a bit. “If the guardian is awake, will he help us defeat the harbinger?”

Neither sibling answered.

“Adriel? Farren?” I prompted.

Farren sighed. “We don’t know. The guardians are constructs and bound by the commands of the Game and their creators. The spirits who animate them are not free to do as they please. That way lies anarchy.”

“Farren is unfortunately right,” Adriel added. “It all depends on how much leeway the Primes granted the guardians to defend their sectors. Draven may be able to help, or he may be prevented from acting against any denizen of the dungeon. And there is no way to tell beforehand which it will be.”

“But what we do know,” Farren said, “is that the guardian can close the barrier. Once he does that, the void tree will be starved of nether and wither away. It may take months or years, but it will happen. The sapling is still too young to survive on its own without help from its elders.”

“So, will you do it?” Adriel asked softly.

“Of course,” I replied. There was never any doubt of my willingness, only the how. “But me reaching the tree might be a problem. Even if you could draw the harbinger away from the tree—which is what I assume you intend—the moment the spores spot me, he will return.”

“Leave the spores and the harbinger to us,” Farren said casually.

“You have a plan for dealing with them?” I asked.

“We do,” Adriel said.

“Tell me,” I said, even as I began working out how to perform my own role.

“First,” Farren began, “we will…”