Locking in my final choices I slipped the finished slate Wards from the pile and slid them into a pouch on my belt. Rising smoothly from the ground I turned my head to look balefully in the direction of the group of miscreants standing in my way. Returning my tools to my storage, I moved through the trees toward the tree line, a plan forming in my mind.
Posting up beside a tree I surveyed the harried minions as they worked at the behest of the giant four-armed boatswain. I noted that there were six bodies dressed like the Order Operatives laid out in a row in the black sand. It looked as if they bit off more than they could chew when they attacked Sakurai, Mystal and her pirates. Behind them at the ‘silt line’ there was a small strange looking boat with a mast barren of sails. Distantly I could see a shape rising up and down on the silt that looked like a ship.
A husky voice spoke up from my shoulder and I nearly shouted in surprise. Turning, I saw Magda’s form just visible in the darkness around a nearby tree. Scowling at her I hissed, “How long have you been watching me?”
Her expression was hidden but her cold response rankled me, “You mean when you stormed out of the village like an angry child or when you sat in the woods for ten minutes playing with your little stone cards.”
At my cold glare she answered, “Not long.”
When I turned back to watch the Order Operatives go about loading their small boat she said, “I saw them drag your little friend and the giant skeleton into a boat and take them to their ship. I’ve been watching them for the last few hours.”
After a long moment passed she said, “Well?”
“Well?”
“Are you going to ask me for help or tell me to fuck off? Come on boy, I don’t have a rev to sit here watching you brood.”
Breathing in deeply I asked, “Want to help me kill some Order thugs?”
There was a grin in her voice, “Ah, they are Sevrin’s boys. In that case do you want to get stuck in while I provide ranged support?”
Considering the simple plan I closed my eyes and eventually muttered, “Sounds good.”
When I glanced back to where she was standing, I saw nothing.
Making my way to the tree line I leaned against a nearby tree and waited for the bumbling thugs to notice me. Several minutes passed and they still did not take note of the intruder in their midst. Master level stealth seemed to be more than they could handle.
Growing impatient I cleared my throat which had the desired effect of alerting several of the dull-eyed operatives who started grabbing at their weapons. The giant man laughed and raised a hand for them to stop as he stomped closer to me, pausing about fifteen meters away.
He surveyed me and grinned, “You the ‘Malcolm’ that pretty little Haithan girl was whining about?”
Gritting my teeth at that, I offered the best grin I could manage, “Looks like you guys had a spot of trouble. Don’t tell me you didn’t expect a quarter ton of armor with a lady center to eviscerate half your squad?”
The giant man’s grin turned hard and he casually dropped all four of his three fingered hands onto the long hilts at his waist, “Doesn’t matter much. Always converts to be had. She’s a clean Remnant as well and is good fodder for reconditioning. The other girl,” he shrugged, “she’s some strange Spiral beast and Sevrin is going to twist his nipples over a chance to cut her up.”
Already angry at the situation, the suggestion that the two women I’d met would be casually abused stoked my rage. They were NPCs, but given how realistic this game seemed to be the line was certainly blurred between reality and fantasy.
Nodding, I took a deep breath before asking, “You keen on telling me where you took them?,” I paused and leaned slightly to look past him, “oh wait, it’s that ship right?”
The giant man’s grin vanished and he snarled, gesturing his allies forward with a casual wave, “Get’im.”
The six operatives charged me with their weapons drawn. Rolling around the trunk of the tree I waited until I heard the first of the Wards I had planted around the treeline go off. The expectant sizzle hit the air and I activated Surging Blood and Waltz of the Mad as I spun around the tree and charged the nearest Operative. The Haithan man was shaking and stunned and I rushed in and buried one of the sisters in his stomach, spinning away from him and slashing him open further as I went. Nearby one of the ape-like pirates was in the middle of turning and charging another of his comrades, a female human, firing a heavy blunderbuss type shotgun as he went. The woman he was charging took an arrow to the chest and nearly fell to her knees before the blast from her now unaimed firearm threw her off her feet.
Two other pirates turned against their allies in the haze of my confusing dance. Ignoring them, I danced between the others, each of my strikes weighted with savagery stemming from my anger. A lot of my finesse was gone in the moment. It seemed I needed another vent for my recent anger and these men and women were it. When a good amount of blood was spraying free of wounds I activated Dance of the Rose Hurricane and rushed to attack the hulking figure of the giant who was stomping toward me with his two giant blades in his many hands. He raised them both and made to drop them on me with a giant overhand chop. A man rushing to help him took an arrow in the shoulder and spun to the ground with a curse.
Activating Evade, I jumped over the giant’s arcing blades as they swerved and cut a horizontal slice over the ground. Kicking off one of the hulking knives, I jumped toward his face leaving a pair of bloody slashes on his cheek as I landed on his shoulder, then jumped away leaving superficial cuts from Rose Hurricane on his upper body.
The giant roared and swiped at where I had been as I soared to the ground. Nearby the man that Magda’s arrow had knocked to the ground tried to stand and rejoin the fight only for a white bone shaft to appear in the side of his neck and throw out a gout of crimson as he tumbled to the sand. Kicking my heels I activated the shorter speed effect of Blazing Boots to rush in again. Sending the Sisters back to my inventory and pulling a Ward in each hand I tossed them at the feet of the giant before kicking off his chest into a flip, leaving a patch of fire in my wake.
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As the world sped back up the two wards exploded and sent bursts of blue electrical light shooting up his legs and arms. The man screamed and stumbled from the pain of his weakness. I was back on him in seconds jumping in the air with the Sisters materializing in my hands as I came down and drove them into his clavicle on either side of his head.
Bearing the giant to the ground, I snarled in his face, “Not the week to fuck with me!”
Sensing an Order Operative attempting to sneak up on me I was about to activate Blood Mist but an arrow burst through his chest. The man staggered, stuttered gibberish words and then fell face first into the sand.
Behind me the confused monkey man from my initial charge was firing his blunderbuss into the face of a downed opponent. The four armed figure on the ground before me held up his blood covered hands and pleaded, “No, I just work for the Order. I didn’t mean no harm, honest.”
Stalking forward to loom over the now pleading giant man I growled, “Why is the Order doing this?”
He stuttered, “Order wants to rule the Spiral. Lady of Flame wants everything to settle down and there to be order and peace. If it takes a bootheel then that is what needs to be done.”
Glaring at him and thinking of one of my quests I’d seen earlier I asked, “Sevrin your boss?”
He nodded dumbly, “Big man on this layer of the Spiral. Big priest type. He has the Brand. He can make you a monster if you don’t bow.”
He choked on his own blood and tried to smile, “I told you what you wanted.”
Ignoring him I turned and slung both Sisters at the fleeing blunderbuss wielder. He was already badly wounded and when they dropped into his back he screamed and fell to the ground unmoving. The blades reappeared in my hands and I turned back to the giant asking, “What were you saying?”
He groaned and his eyes glassed over as he said, “I told you what you wanted. You gonna…”
The man’s pleas were cut off as I leaped forward and onto his chest driving my fangs into his neck. The giant’s arms fell to his side as a moan escaped his lips. Draining him to a husk I casually looted the corpse. Making the rounds of the other bodies I looted them and what supplies I could scavenge from their camp. There were no upgrades for me. I did find an item with a strange name that I suspected would be integral to making it to the distant ship.
Skiff Key
The pirates and traders of the shifting silt often utilize these small boats for short range travel. Travel in the worst kind of style.
Rarity: Uncommon
Tier: E
Activate and pilot a silt ship skiff
At that moment Magda emerged from the darkness of the treeline with her bow already slung over her back. She gave me a flat look and I casually tossed her the blunderbuss I’d looted from the body of the ape man. Looking the item over she commented, “Not usually the type to get close.”
As I made my way to the skiff I answered, “Can’t always count on maintaining range.”
She shrugged and slung it onto her back.
“So, Magda?”
She joined me at the strange skiff and I asked, “Did they tear their ship apart or what?”
The vessel in front of us was just a metallic frame with no sides or bottom. It was long and slender with seating for eight. There were no oars. It had a strange engine made of black steel at its back. The ovoid engine was covered in thin seams and had an angled double bladed rudder lodged deep in the silt. The tiller was a single long black iron bar with a trigger like a brake on a motorcycle and several other additional shifting switches. The boat had a single bare mast but I could not find sails stowed anywhere in its compartments.
Magda growled under her breath as she joined me, “Damned elseworlders. It's a silt cutter.”
She nodded toward the key in my hand and said, “Climb in next to the engine,” and when I did so she said, “put that key in the port and turn it. Raise the tiller to reverse and down to go forward. Left and right function as you’d imagine.”
Considering the blocky key for a moment I jammed into the strange engine device. There was metallic hum and the seams in the engine filled with static crimson light before spreading over the voids between the metal frame and forming a sleek skiff formed of light. As sparks of energy ran over the newly formed panels the silt pushed away from the vessel and with an audible hiss it rose upward to float above the few centimeters above the silt. Turning to Magda, I saw that she was studying me with concern.
“I still have my friends to check in with. I was glad to help you kill this trash, but this is where I go my own way.”
Nodding, I extended a hand to her. She clasped my hand with considerable strength and muttered, “Whatever it is has you riled you should try and temper it. Blind anger will kill you as sure as a blade or an arrow.”
Shaking her hand I said, “I’ll try to take that advice.”
Considering where I was headed, looking out over the shifting silt waves toward the distant ship I said, “If you want to find me later, find Captain Valerie de Lafontaine.”
“I know the name and family. I will find you,” she nodded and set off down the beach turning to call out to me, “go in peace Malcolm.”
When she vanished into the night I studied the tiller and gripped it. The vessel was surprisingly responsive, shifting with the slightest movement. Taking a deep breath I thrust the tiller downward and the skiff rocketed away from the beach and into the waves. Turning, I watched the flaming ship and corpse strewn beach fade away into the eternal night.
Left to my own thoughts I tried to keep my anger under control as I considered the events of the last few days.
Why would they choose to dox me specifically?
Was this build of the game just for me? Did they consider this a lighthearted joke to welcome me to their universe?
That wasn’t the true seed of the anger though.
A brief image of Sydney’s smiling face flashed in my mind. I grimaced at that but the anger I had been feeling was not there. Frustration and sadness, yes but not the deep grinding anger that had filled me for the last few weeks. .
Running a thumb over the platinum ring on my finger I angled the small skiff over a dune and catapulted into the air for several feet. As the skiff came crashing back into the silt a face suddenly appeared in my mind. A leering furious face that was all sharp angles framed by bright crimson hair.
Speers, the Catacomb manager, looked down at me with disgust.
Lydia’s voice echoed through my mind, “Compliance,” over and over again as if repeating an emergency message.
A thousand envelopes thrown onto a counter with the same message printed on their front in my handwriting.
Even over the howling wind I heard Speer’s hate filled voice rasp with finality, “Do your fucking job.”
The NPCs Sakurai and Mystal knew my name and that information could only come from Catacomb.
My voice was a spiteful growl in the dive room as a revelation about who was behind all of this dawned on me, “Lydia, call Jaime Speers.”
“I can’t do that Mal.”
“Don’t you work for me?”
“I do not, Malcolm.”
The only song singing in my head was fury. Time to broadcast a message I guess.
