Pushing the door open, I spotted Aldwin sitting behind his desk with several sheets of paper strewn across it, the man clearly in the middle of something. Looking up from his work, his eyes widened in surprise as he saw the four of us standing in the doorway.
“Lyrian!” he exclaimed. “You’re back already? D-did something happen?”
“You could say that,” I replied, giving the man a nod with a half-smile on my face. “I have good news and bad news, but we should also tell Stanton too. Time isn’t exactly on our side right now.”
“He’s in the meeting room with Veronia,” Aldwin said, sensing the urgency in my words and standing up from his desk.
Taking a few seconds to reorient ourselves as the Bann eagerly left his paperwork behind, we shifted back down the hallway and knocked on the meeting room door, not waiting for any reply before entering.
“We found it,” I announced without any preamble, seeing Stanton and Veronia sitting across the table from one another, with a pile of paper and what looked to be a random assortment of knickknacks spread out around them.
“The Ley Line?” Veronia asked eagerly, showing no sign of anger or annoyance at our interruption.
“The Ley Line,” Freya confirmed as we all moved to take seats around the table. “But that’s not the only thing; we found something else.”
“More like something else found us,” Lazarus said with a note of bitter humor in his voice.
“What do you mean?” Aldwin asked. “Something…killed you all?”
“Perhaps starting at the beginning would be more efficient,” Stanton stated, appearing completely calm as he clasped his hands together. “What did you find?”
“That a good portion of the ruin is still intact,” I said before beginning to recount everything that we had experienced in the Nafarrian ruin, leaving nothing out during my explanation. “…and a massive beast appeared out of the darkness. We didn’t stand a chance against it.”
“Gods,” Aldwin whispered incredulously, leaning forward in his seat as he glanced down at the table. “All of this was under us this whole time?”
“It seems like it,” I soothed, more than understanding what Aldwin was feeling. From his perspective, the founding of Aldford had led from one crisis to another, each one seeming to somehow be more threatening than the one before it. “Though given how fast Æther can make things grow…we could be wrong.”
“Five-hundred and fifty years is a long enough time for anything to happen,” Stanton said, his voice sounding awed by what we had just told him. “You realize that this is the first time that we have a true understanding of the timeline of when the Nafarrian civilization fell? Nothing we’ve ever uncovered has even hinted at how long they may have been extinct for.”
“A dying race usually doesn’t really have time to leave notes behind,” Lazarus said dryly. “And I imagine The Ascendancy wouldn’t have been forthcoming with those answers.”
“Hardly,” Veronia agreed.
“We’ve also managed to recover a handful of artifacts and relics from the ruin,” I said, glancing between Aldwin and Stanton. “I think I’ll be able to salvage or re-create some of it, but the Ley Line has to be our priority for the time being.”
“I absolutely agree,” Stanton said with a nod. “But in the meantime, would it be possible to have your permission to send Samuel and Quincy into the ruin? The information that we could uncover…is beyond priceless, it could redefine all study of the Nafarr.”
At least he knows how to ask politely, I thought as I shifted my gaze towards Aldwin, seeing him give me a nearly imperceptible shrug in return. I wasn’t anywhere close to trusting Stanton at this point, yet given the seriousness of the situation, I couldn’t see what there was to gain from denying him access to the ruin. The more we discovered about the Nafarr and their technology, the better prepared we would be when it came to deal with the Ley Line. But still, it pays to be cautious…
“You can,” I stated after a moment of thought. “But I want a copy of all your research, and Halcyon, Caius, and Donovan will be in charge. Anything they say goes.”
“That is more than fair,” Stanton said in a surprisingly gracious manner. “I will be sure to impress upon Samuel and Quincy that we are guests.”
“And how are you exactly going to tell them that?” Lazarus asked. “Everyone knows about the last time you and Lyrian met in public. Aren’t you concerned your cover is going to slip?”
“Given the nature of our discovery, I believe it would be best that Lyrian and ‘Stanton’ bury the hatchet publicly,” the agent replied, first to Lazarus, then glancing over to me as he spoke. “If what you’ve said about the cavern below is true, we don’t have time for division in the ranks.”
“We don’t,” I agreed. “As it is, we’re going to need all of Virtus working on this, and even then, I think we’re going to be hard-pressed. That giant beast aside, we were all outclassed by even the common creatures that inhabited the Grove. It’s going to be a long learning curve for all of us down there.”
“Are we sure we just want to limit this to the guild, Lyr?” Freya asked. “That cavern is huge, and even with all of us exploring it, I’m not sure if we have enough people to make a dent in all the creatures down there. At least not quickly.”
“I was thinking the same thing,” I replied hesitantly. “But if we tell people about the Twilight Grove, then we’re going to have to tell them about the Ley Line too. That has a very real risk of blowing up in our faces. Badly.”
“As opposed to the ground literally exploding in their faces if we fail?” Constantine chimed in. “I can appreciate your hesitation, Lyr. But by the time evening falls, everyone is going to know that we were up to something today. A full wipe by Virtus’s elite isn’t something that is going to keep quiet for long.”
“Especially if people see us heading to the ruin on a regular basis, let alone if we wipe again,” Freya added, giving me a worried look. “And don’t forget about Ignis, he found the ruin not even two hours after we’d uncovered it. It’s only a matter of time until he starts telling everyone and they try to enter the ruins themselves. We may have a claim to the place, but unless we’re willing to sit and guard it full time, they’re going to get in regardless. But if we can be the ones to tell them…we can at least be in control of how the news comes out, maybe set some ground rules. Short term hurt feelings aside, it’ll be better for us in the long run.”
“I don’t mean to seem like I am piling on,” Aldwin began hesitantly, his attention focused on me. “But I believe that your friends are right in this matter, Lyrian. Keeping news of the Ley Line was a necessary tactic at the time. All it would have done was incite panic, and weaken Aldford before we knew what we were up against.”
“But now,” the Bann continued. “We have a clear vision of the task before us, and secrecy at this point will only put the town in more jeopardy. If what you have said is true about the creatures in the Grove below us, we need all of Aldford’s Adventurers working together on this - if only to provide you all with some assistance, so Virtus isn’t shouldering this alone.”
“Doing this is going to disrupt everything in Aldford,” I said, feeling the weight of my friends’ advice land on my shoulders. “We need to be ready to handle that.”
“You’ll have my full support in whatever you need, Lyrian,” Aldwin replied. “If anyone asks, I will stand behind our decision to keep the information privileged.”
“And so will we,” Stanton added, Veronia nodding her head in agreement. “Though I expect our words not to carry as far as Fredric’s will.”
“It will at least provide a united front,” Freya said. “Which—”
A knock on the door caused everyone to turn around as Sierra poked her head into the room.
“Hey…” she said in an uneasy voice. “There are a bunch of Adventurers that have been showing up downstairs over the last few minutes, and they’re all talking about the ruin. Some of them are even ma
king plans to check it out…”
“How did they even—” I started to say before the realization hit me. “Ignis. Damn that man is fast.”
“I saw him downstairs,” Sierra confirmed. “Right now, everyone seems to be excited by the news that there’s something so close to explore, but that can turn quickly.”
“He must have gone to spread the word right away,” Constantine commented angrily. “He’s probably expecting us to either quash it and look like assholes, or give in and let everyone in the dungeon.”
“Including himself by extension,” Lazarus stated acidly. “Underhanded, but damned if it doesn’t put you guys in a hard spot.”
“You’ve mentioned this man twice now. He’s an Adventurer?” Veronia asked, looking at us for confirmation.
“He is,” I stated, reaching up to rub my forehead at this newest development. It wasn’t enough for us to have a nearly impossible task in fighting our way through the Grove and repairing the Ley Line, but that we also had to do it while dealing with greedy players too. “He’s angry about how much influence Virtus has around here and doesn’t trust us.”
“He must be a new arrival then,” Aldwin stated, an angry expression crossing his face. “Else he would know that influence was justly earned.”
“That doesn’t matter right now,” Freya said bitterly as she pushed herself up and out of her seat. “Ignis has forced our hand on this, and we need to make a statement about the ruins before anyone leaves.”
“Yeah, the genie is definitely out of the bottle now,” I grumbled, following Freya’s lead and standing up from the table, hearing everyone else rise behind me. “I really hoped we’d have more time to get ready for this…”
“’Ask me for anything but time’,” Lazarus quoted as we all got up and started to move, leaving the meeting room and following Sierra back down into the common area, the excited voices of the Adventurers below filtering up the stairs.
Damn, Sierra wasn’t kidding, I thought as I looked out towards all the people that had answered Ignis’s call. Seeing that several dozen Adventurers had managed to pack themselves into the Town Hall, and were all in the process of forming their groups and preparing themselves to head out for the day.
“Damn, that’s a lot of them,” Constantine whispered from behind me. “This has to be most of the Adventurers in town.”
“It’s barely after nine,” I commented, glancing over all the excited faces in the room and wondering what exactly I was going to say to them. “Only the early risers have left for the day already. Most of the other Adventurers are just getting up.”
“Saves us the trouble of having to tell them more than once then,” Freya said, her eyes scanning the crowd, likely for Ignis and the other Adventurers that we saw with him. “How do you want to approach this, Lyr?”
“Directly and with the facts is probably our best bet. There’s no sense in hiding any more than we have to,” I replied, feeling my heart flutter as my nerves warred with the weight of the Death Sickness still afflicting me. “I was thinking to address them from right under the Webwood Queen’s skull, with you and Aldwin standing beside me.”
“A potent statement,” Stanton said with approval in his voice. “It will remind them of what Virtus is capable of.”
“And show them that you have my full support,” Aldwin added.
“Hopefully that will be enough,” I said, exhaling slowly in an attempt to control my wildly beating heart. “Let’s get this over with.”
Crossing the room, Freya, Aldwin and I made our way through the crowd of Adventurers until we reached the large fireplace that dominated the center wall of the hall, with the Webwood Queen’s skull hanging over it. Sparing only a brief glance up at the trophy, I mustered my courage and then climbed on top of a nearby long table, where I was able to get a perfect view of the Adventurers in the hall.
And where the Adventurers were able to get a perfect view of me.
This is just marginally less stressful than seeing that Raid Boss come out of the woods, I thought nervously as I realized that this would be the largest crowd I had ever spoken to. Sure, I had made speeches before, but this was by far going to be the largest, and I didn’t exactly have good news to share. Just take it one step at a time, Marc, and let them know what the score is. You’ve done this before; there’s nothing to worry about.
Taking in a deep breath, I tried to hold onto my mental pep talk as I raised my hand high into the air and conjured a bright orb of light. Almost immediately everyone’s eyes glanced over in my direction, curious to see what was going on, the voices gradually dying out as they recognized who I was. Holding my other hand high in the air, I signaled for silence, waiting patiently until I was confident I had everyone’s attention.
“Good morning,” I called out, unable to think of any other better way to start my speech off. “I understand that there have been rumors of a discovery floating around Aldford today and I wanted to take this opportunity to address them.”
I paused for a moment, hearing several excited whispers echo up from the crowd in anticipation of what I was going to say.
“The first thing that I wanted to announce is that those rumors are true,” I stated in a clear and loud tone. “An intact Nafarrian ruin has indeed been discovered a short distance away from Aldford, and—”
A cheer from the crowd interrupted me as several of the Adventurers shouted in celebration, causing me to hold out my hands once more and signal for silence.
“And,” I repeated, once the noise had died down enough for me to continue, “as you may have also heard, Virtus did run into something that wiped out two of our parties.”
All lingering traces of chatter died in the room at my statement, with a range of emotions crossing the faces of the Adventurers before me. Gazing out into the crowd as my words sank in, I saw expressions of concern, excitement, and in a handful of cases, fear, looking back at me, everyone eager to hear what more I had to say.
“But it isn’t what killed us that I am here to warn you about,” I stated, choosing my next words carefully. “I’m here to warn you about an even greater threat that has been lurking beneath Aldford, one that has the potential to erase all that we have worked so hard to build, and one that Virtus is no longer capable of managing on its own.”
I felt the atmosphere in the room grow heavy with my last statement, all excitement of the new ruin suddenly vanishing as if it had never been.
Here goes nothing, I thought, chancing a sidelong glance at Freya who had climbed the table with me and was standing on my right. Sensing my stare, I saw her give me a reassuring nod out of the corner of my eye, giving me the confidence to voice my next words.
“Approximately two weeks ago, Virtus detected something strange in the Ley Line that runs under Aldford,” I announced, hearing murmurs fill the hall the second that I mentioned the river of magic. “After taking a closer look at it, and bringing in the expertise of the Eberian Mages Guild members, we discovered that a portion of the Ley Line had ruptured and that Æther was leaking from it, pooling somewhere far beneath us.”
“It was determined that unless this rupture were somehow repaired, the Æther leaking from the Ley Line would eventually reach a critical mass and detonate itself, catastrophically destroying everything in this region, Aldford included.”
I waited for a moment to let my words sink in, watching shock and surprise play across the Adventurers’ faces.
“Based on the severity of this situation and the panic that it could bring, we collectively decided that it would be best to keep this news to ourselves until—”
“Until you had no other choice!” Ignis’s familiar voice shouted out. “The only reason why you’re telling us this now is because—”
“Until we had more information,” I countered loudly, seeing several Adventurers all shifting away from a spot, revealing where Ignis had hidden himself in the crowd, the elf glaring straight up at me with an angry expression. “Given the lack of in
formation that we were working with, we did not want to cause a panic in the town if we could avoid it.”
“A measure that I highly endorsed,” Aldwin added from his place on my left. “Aldford has seen its share of trials of late, and more than anything, I wanted to preserve a sense of normalcy while we investigated this threat to the town.”
“Don’t give us that shit!” Ignis retorted hotly, several voices from the crowd shouting out in sympathy. “You would have kept this a secret forever if it wasn’t for me finding the damn ruin myself!”
“Oy, shut up, ya twit!” a loud voice barked out from amid the Adventurers, which immediately prompted more shuffling as everyone took a step away from the new speaker, revealing an armored dwarf I’d never seen before walking towards Ignis. “Lyrian and his group have done far too much for us for you to be talking smack about his choices of how to run this town. If it weren’t for them, saving our asses from them bandits, a good lot of us would be starting fresh back from Eberia! But not only that, they’ve been working like fiends to ensure that we are housed and fed!”
A loud chorus of agreement rang up at the dwarf’s statement, causing Ignis to shrink backward a step as the man closed in on him.
“You know damn well that cowardly folk like you would have bailed the moment that trouble reared its ugly head!” the dwarf continued, taking several more threatening steps towards Ignis who finally managed to muster up his courage.
“How dare you call me a coward!” he spat at the dwarf. “I’m the one who brought all of this to light! You would have never even known about this if it weren’t for me!”
“All you’re doing, boy, is stirring an overboiling pot that Virtus is desperately trying to cool!” the dwarf answered, taking another step towards Ignis, this time with his hands raised before him. “And if you keep spewing your filth, I swear I’m gonna pop you in the gob hard enough that you’ll be picking your teeth out from your pod!”
“There will be no violence here!” Dyre’s voice rang out as he suddenly appeared between the dwarf and Ignis, having effortlessly made his way through the crowd. “If you must settle anything, it will be through a sanctioned duel, outside the Town Hall!”
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