Mage Tank

It turned out Lito had his own dream hammer. That is, a hammer that sent people to dreamland by force. It was a rubber mallet called Gorgeous, because of how stunning it was. One might even call it a knock-out.

It thumped people unconscious without killing them.

It was a three-hit combo, dealt no damage, had to be strikes made against the head, it was pretty useless for combat. But boy howdy, did it shut Berserker Leon right the hell up.

Once we got Leon back to the Pocket mansion, Myria administered a sedative that would keep the man down without provoking any cranial swelling. That would have been an atrocious idea, medically speaking, if the man’s brain had been powered off by actual head trauma beforehand, rather than magic. Of course, Lito’s wallops had been enthusiastic enough that I questioned his assurances the hammer didn’t deal damage. He was the expert, so I left him to his business. Either way, Leon was dealt with and now he was someone else’s problem.

Lito had some theories for why the feisty Lord Heronwyte mistook the deranged writings he’d presented for devastating evidence of my guilt. Mind fuckery, essentially. He didn’t take much time to explain, now that everything was wrapped up for them to leave. He and Myria popped the emergency portal, and they ushered the Hiwardians through, making a hasty and efficient exit. Myria took up the rear and paused before crossing over, making sure I didn’t want to head out with them.

“No offense,” I said, “but I’m not convinced Hiward is particularly safe for me at the moment. I also need to do some house cleaning to make sure there are no more nasty surprises hiding out in here.”

“Alright,” said Myria. She bit her lip, still hesitating to go. “Look, I know you’re worried. There’s three extremely powerful people out there working to get your party members back, and more are probably on the way as we speak. No one’s going to sit back while the king’s missing.”

“I have no doubt Hiward’s best will turn out for the king,” I said. “As for everyone else…” I shrugged, leaving the sentence unfinished.

“Just be careful,” she said. “Don’t do anything rash.”

“Go take care of your people, Myria,” I said. She frowned at my response but nodded and left. The portal sputtered and closed not long after. The Closet that had been so full just an hour before, was back down to me and Grotto.

I leaned back against a wall in the lounge hallway, staring at the bloodstains. Lito and Myria had taken the bodies as part of the investigation, to Grotto’s silent dismay. My familiar hadn’t let the opportunity go to waste completely, though. A couple of the corpses had been missing their weapons, and the Guard who’d nearly survived a decapitation had been holding a fancy shield that was nowhere to be found.

A trinket here, a potion there, the sorts of things that might get misplaced while making a quick retreat.

The blood was in front of me, but I wasn’t really staring at anything in particular. My vision blurred as I drifted through half-formed plans for assaulting a mystery foe. Myria was right. It would be rash to try and pursue someone who could capture–arguably–the most important man in the world. Someone who could do it under the noses of three of the oldest and highest-level Delvers on the planet. Someone who’d evaded all the surveillance both Grotto and I could bring to bear, and who’d infiltrated the King’s Guard at the highest level.

It was that last part I found myself fixating on. The enemy had succeeded because of the King’s Guard, who’d been having one fucking hell of an opposite day.

A squad from the Guard spent 24 hours combing the Closet before the king arrived, halfway pretending to be servants. Did that give them the time and access needed to make such a massive weave in the lounge? I didn’t think so, but a lot of the furnishings had been brought in from outside. Did they have access to the Ravvenblaq’s furniture beforehand? That seemed more likely.

What I knew for sure was that they were given free rein to move as they pleased, establish security points, and create blindspots in Grotto’s monitoring. They were in charge of vetting guests and ensuring no dangerous magical items were brought inside. Inventory inspections were not unusual where the king was involved.

Self-defense was a big part of Hiwardian culture, so a Hiwardian might resist if someone tried to strip them of all combat options, even as a condition to see the king. Most Delvers didn’t need a sharp piece of metal to wreak havoc, anyway, and weapons and armor could be contained with a proper beatdown. However, a Hiwardian would have a much harder time justifying a device capable of remote monitoring and limited incursion capabilities. The King’s Guard should have been on the lookout for things like a fucking divination beacon, for example.

We didn’t think for a second the King’s Guard would be on our side, but we took it for granted they’d be on the king’s side. It worked into our security plan, and it blew up right in our faces.

Leon hadn’t been a part of the King’s Guard, but he’d probably been hit by some sort of mind-affecting ability. That could have been done well ahead of time. Suggestion plus Mesmerize, maybe. The main hole in that theory was the Berserk status that occurred once Lito pointed out the inconsistencies in Leon’s beliefs. There were a lot of potential explanations for that, though. A unique Passive Skill, a conditional item trigger, a delayed potion effect, to name a few. Leon wasn’t directly tied to the imposter Guard, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t working for them indirectly, voluntarily or not.

The imposter King’s Guard had been the enemy’s main advantage in the Closet, and the imposter King’s Guard was dead. All of them except for Aprogar Bluewren, or whoever it was pretending to be the Lord Director.

That made Aprogar the only remaining threat that we knew of. He’d been injured, and he was on the run. It sounded like a tasty opportunity to chase the man down, but it also sounded like a setup. Aprogar had moved to a secondary location, where he may have regrouped with backup, healed, and prepared to ambush any pursuers. Then again, the teleport sigil might lead to the middle of the Less-Than-Habitable Forest, and Aprogar just plain flew away and fucked off into hiding.

I didn’t know enough to say that the teleport weave behind my wardrobe would lead to my missing party members. I didn’t know enough to say that taking that teleport would lead to anything good, whatsoever. In fact, I did know enough to say that the chances of it resulting in certain death were sufficient for reasonable minds to consider it a very stupid thing to do. ṛἈɴỒβĘꞩ

But yeah. I was going to take that teleport.

I wasn’t about to rush in while wearing my suit, though. It already got ruffled enough during my dust-up with Leon, so I stripped down and started to armor up. I had to do it the old-fashioned way since I didn’t have a convenient CLOTHES BEAM that allowed me to equip my full armor set in a flash. I added figuring out how Ealdric and crew did that to the List. The answer was probably money.

While I worked on that, Grotto worked on some other things.

[The golems are animated, but still technically objects. They can be stored and retrieved through inventory. I need to be present to command the constructs, but it is an additional combat option.]

“Are you planning on coming?”

[I will not sit idle and wait for your terminal recklessness to end my life through our Shared Fate.]

“So, rather than dying in the comfort of the Pocket Delve, you’d rather die alongside me, with your boots on?”

[I would rather die with blood on my tentacles.]

“Well, I’m happy to have you. Here’s an idea. I can reset my inventory home point to wherever we land. That way, if they kill us, they’ll get buried under a mountain of shit.”

[Why do you continue to propose this idea? Do you truly believe a high-level Delver can be killed by having several tons' worth of random items fall upon their head?]

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“If they’re already weakened from their epic duel with the mighty Arlotto, then maybe. It also depends on how compressed the space is. If it’s a tiny pocket dimension, then it’d be crazy strong.”

[If you wish to design a corpse explosion trap, there are better methods.]

“Do tell.”

[I would rather not give you any motivation to keel over at the first sign of trouble.]

“You know, I can’t help but think that Nuralie would be much better equipped to plan a rescue. She could make all sorts of crazy shit in preparation.”

[Yes, our strengths lie in other areas, such as preparing an appropriate killing field prior to our enemy’s arrival.]

“Hmm. Yeah, I think that’s more your thing. I’m about making ‘wherever the party is’ an appropriate killing field.”

[They are synergistic.]

I finished up with my armor, made sure the boa was well secured, and took a look at my vital stats.

Health: 1898/1898

HP Regen: 1282

Stamina: 520/520

SP Regen: 104

Mana: 400/500 (-100 Reserved)

MP Regen: 300 (+100 from Ambient Absorption)

It was the first time I’d taken a good look since getting Somncres back. My Fortitude and its first evolution gave me a base health regen of 378. I got another 52 from Who Needs a Cleric, and since Auradilato made me my own ally for auras and aura buffs, my Heavy Armor evolution, Standard Bearer, slapped a 21% bonus onto that. Both Somncres and my Cuirass of the Descent added another 100 each, taking me to 641. Then that number was doubled by my ring. I could go from 1 HP to full health in under ninety minutes.

Stamina was less impressive, but it was still twice what Fortitude would grant normally because of the same evo doubling my base health regen. One hundred mana was being reserved by my Reverse Card aura, and a third of my mana regen was due to the Ambient Absorption trait I shared with Grotto. That bonus came from soaking up the Dimensional mana in the Closet, but we’d throttled the mana in my section to protect mundane people from accidental mana toxicity. It could grant up to an additional 400 regen total in the right environment. Conversely, the bonus might disappear entirely, depending on the types of mana at the teleport destination.

Satisfied with what I saw, I began walking toward my bedroom.

“What can we do to ensure there aren’t any more traps hidden around?”

[I can purge the furniture and structural materials contained within the mansion.]

“Geez, what a waste. Think the Ravvenblaqs will be mad? Two-thirds of it is theirs.”

[I believe they are more concerned with the king and their missing family members.]

The hallway leading to my bedroom had splatters of blood along the floor and walls. It wasn’t “I just dragged an eviscerated corpse down this hallway” bloody, more like “Oh god! My jugular vein is cut and all my juices are escaping!” levels of bloody. There was some decent arterial spray, enough that a normal person would have been dead in a minute or two. The trail led to my bedroom, where the door was already open. I paused in front of it.

My wardrobe was still pushed to one side, and the teleport sigil had a bloody handprint in the middle.

“Have you made contact with anyone who’s missing using your PSA evolution?”

[I have continued making the attempt, but have received no response.]

“What about Ealdric, Bobret, or Cera? Maybe we can see if they wound up in the right place.”

[Ealdric has some method of blocking the ability. I believe it is automatic. Bobret was taken to the volcano. Cera has not responded.]

“The other Zenithars?”

[They are attempting divinations to locate Zura, but have been unsuccessful.]

“Shit. Think we should try and talk to the Littans?”

[It is likely unwise to bring this matter to their attention. The king of their greatest rival has gone missing, and the absence of Zenithar Zura will improve their negotiating position with Eschendur. They may view the situation as beneficial for them. At best, they will be ambivalent, at worst, they will interfere.]

“Fair point. Can we bring Nottagator with us?”

[I do not think ferrying a Grade 20 Atrocidile berserker into an unknown environment will have a positive outcome. I am also uncomfortable removing creatures from the Delve for use in personal conflicts.]

“System Call? We have some rep to spend.”

[What action would we request? The System will not intercede unless there is a System-related issue, or some other condition that compels it to act.] Grotto’s feelers writhed as he thought for a moment. [I have been working on using my Divine skill to interact with the System in a less structured manner. If I am seeking knowledge, I can have the System place me on the best path to find that knowledge, but it is very vague guidance.]

“Can you ask where the party is?”

[It would direct me towards a place where such knowledge can be obtained. One moment.] Grotto closed his eyes. I used the mana sight that Mystical Magic gave me, trying to get in the habit of exercising the skill more. Divine mana flowed through Grotto’s body in an intricate pattern, but I couldn’t discern anything meaningful. [Hmph. The path leads in two directions. To you, because you can summon the exit to the Littan base, or through this teleport weave.]

“That’s good, right? That means the teleport goes somewhere useful.”

[Those are currently the only two available means of leaving the Closet. All it indicates is that the place where such knowledge can be found is not within the Closet.]

“Fuck, man. We’ve really got nothing?”

[Yes, it is frustrating. I recently acquired the skill Locate Entity, but its maximum range is thirty-one miles, which covers the entirety of the Closet. The skill failed when I used it. Thus, I know that the party is not within the Closet. I also took a Reconnaissance evolution that allows me to mark targets and determine the distance and direction of each party member, but it returns an error. This means they are on a different plane. Everything outside the Closet is on a different plane from the Closet. Thus, I know that the party is not within the Closet.]

“Okay.” I sighed. “At least we know they aren’t hiding in the Closet.Did you ever finish that rune-matching analysis?”

[I was able to determine that this weave will teleport us to one of the same places as the lounge, but could not confirm which.]

“Think Aprogar wanted to cauterize his wounds inside the heart of an active volcano? Maybe apply pressure with the weight of an entire ocean?”

Grotto appeared next to me in his normal mini-c’thon disguise, gripping a small roundshield in his feelers. It was still large enough to cover his entire body.

Because the little octo shared my intrinsic skills, he was theoretically as good with Shields as I was. He didn’t have the Strength to wield anything robust, but he’d still get a huge defensive bonus from the skill alone, even if the shield itself was kind of lousy. Plus, if he wanted to use something bigger and badder, he had the Animate Object spell, which is why the large roundshield that once belonged to the tanky not-a-King’s Guard also floated next to him.

[I am becoming increasingly convinced that this weave was placed here not as a trap for you, but as an escape route for Aprogar.]

“Then why bother with the slow-fill mana timer thingy?”

[It was enough to make Lito believe the weave was harmless for the time being and leave it alone in favor of investigating it further. It also created the impression of a trap intended for you, while distracting us from Aprogar’s main objective within the lounge.]

“Another piece of the ‘all eyes on me’ ploy, eh?”

[Perhaps. Or perhaps he did not foresee Ealdric being able to attack every King’s Guard simultaneously and used it as an escape of convenience.]

By this point, I realized I was stalling. The situation felt urgent, like I should be rushing through as soon as possible, but I didn’t actually know if time was a critical factor. I forced myself to stay calm and continue trying to do everything I could to ensure success.

I had Discretion selected as my free mana shape from Arcane Geometry, so shaping Explosion! to avoid allies wouldn’t increase the cost. I could do a big channel before heading through, but if there were no good targets the spell would be a giant waste of mana.

There was always Shog, but Sam’lia herself had told me not to interrupt the c’thon’s alone time. I’d only pull him out if things were really desperate.

“Maybe this weave is a trap laid by an entirely separate group, and we’re about to make an unexpected three-way.”

[I doubt two disconnected groups would use the same teleport coordinates.]

“Unless someone external manipulated them into it. That would be some Fortune-level shit right there.”

“Indeed my boy, it would be!” a hearty voice boomed from right beside me.

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