by Skyler Grant
"Fury in a fight. I don't really understand. I'll have to see how it works in practice," Alex said.
Sabrina gave him an amused smile. "Ferocity suits you, Glitch Hunter. If yours has grown I think it is going to suit you well."
Alex was feeling stronger when he made his way into town. He called again at the inn to see if Yasmine had returned yet, but there was still no word from her. His next visit was to the Windicott Estate.
It was a beautiful home on the western edge of town, with a large garden roamed by a small army of private guardsman. Alex was apparently on the guest list. Stating his name saw him quickly admitted and taken to a sitting room with a tray of refreshments.
The walls were filled with artwork, oil paintings of the sea mingled with portraits of well-dressed and dour-looking men and women.
The first person to join him was a familiar sight. Ryn came into the room and gave him a hug before stepping back. "Cass will be along. You're looking all cleaned up and polished. They're treating you well at the keep?"
"They've been good to work with. I'm surprised to see you here. Yasmine said she was going after an old tomb, I thought you'd be all over that," Alex said.
Ryn rolled her eyes. "I know Yasmine thinks she’s going to find something, but she’s poking in the wrong place. All there is out that way are cavelings."
"You sound confident of that."
"Killing Glitch is your thing, finding treasure is mine. People either like to keep their dead relatives close, or put them somewhere they can be a spectacle. There’s nothing out there. No ruins in those mountains," Ryn said.
That seemed to make a certain amount of sense.
The door opened and a woman entered the room. Cassandra Windicott was in her late twenties, dark hair and brown eyes, and wearing loose-fitting trousers and a shirt that looked casual and expensive at the same time.
"Hey Cass. I was just telling him why the tomb isn't a thing," Ryn said.
Cassandra brushed her lips against Alex's cheek in greeting. "Cassandra Windicott. You must be Alex Glaive, Ryn has told me about how you saved her."
"You two seem close," Alex said.
"I'm just a small-time criminal next to her, but we get along," Ryn said.
"Ryn underrates her skills. Besides, I'm more merchant than anything else," Cassandra said, sitting down. "I'm having your funds readied. Your total comes to six hundred and thirty guilders."
"I have no idea if that’s a lot or not," Alex said.
"It isn't terrible. The best items were the jewelry, that we'll have no problem reselling. A lot of the weapons and armor is marked with the Youlash coat of arms, which makes finding a buyer for those difficult," Cassandra said.
"It would keep you comfortable in an inn for a few months, but you're not going to give up monster-hunting off of it," Ryn said.
"Have you sounded him out yet?" Cassandra asked.
"I was waiting for you," Ryn said.
"Sounding me out for what?" Alex asked.
"We need a Glitch Hunter and were hoping that you might be able to offer your skills," Cassandra said.
"Ryn should have told you I have business here already."
Cassandra raised a hand. "She did, and this might actually be related. Yasmine felt she couldn't help. You're another matter. Would you care to hear us out?"
Alex didn't have anything else to do with the rest of his day except to investigate the women’s disappearances and in truth he wasn't sure where to begin for that. This might be an opportunity to do both.
"I'm listening," Alex said.
"Baron Marcus LaFele, the father of the current Baroness Sabrina LaFele. Have you heard of him?"
"Exploded like a stuffed sausage was the way I heard it put," Alex said.
Cassandra made an expression of distaste. "Quite, we try not to talk about that. He had a vault made beneath the keep a short time before his death, magically sealed and warded, and we believe still unopened to this day."
"Why would he have built something like that?"
"We don't know. We're betting that whatever he went to all that trouble to conceal is valuable," Ryn said.
"In the final months of his rule he'd been working closely with some of the other merchant houses. The leaders of those Houses ended up dying with him when King Devok punished everybody," Cassandra added.
"It sounds like you think there was something to his treason," Alex said.
"I don't know if there was or not, although there was obviously reason for King Devok to be suspicious. I don't care about old politics, I just want access to that vault."
"Where do I come in?" Alex asked.
"As I said, the vault was magically sealed. They used three stones. One belonging to the baron, one to the mage who built the vault, and one to the merchant houses he dealt with," Cassandra said.
"That does seem like a lot of trouble."
"Makes you curious, don't it?" Ryn said.
Alex had to admit that it did, although also wary. He had already seen how deadly far-less protected structures could be.
"Why do you need my help?" Alex asked.
"Because we only have one of the stones. We retrieved one from Youlash, which took possession of the baron’s after murdering him. The others are more complicated."
"We think one is in the tower of the wizard who cast the spell. Renauld de Argentine of the House of Towers. Deceased, but his tower remains and we believe another member of his House can get us in," Ryn said, meaningfully.
"You want me to convince Kationa Vess to do us a favor? No wonder Yasmine didn't think this was a job for her," Alex said.
"Exactly. We're willing to pay for her assistance, but she still isn't likely to allow it without a good reason. If you think it relates to your quest it might sway her," Cassandra said.
Alex thought that possible. Although Kationa proved to be mercenary enough so far, she was willing to help too.
"What about the third key?" Alex asked.
"Beneath the ruins of House Kant, here in town. I've sent agents to try and retrieve it, but there are Glitch down there. Traps too, I expect, once you get past the Glitch. Ryn could help you out there."
"I'm really good at traps," Ryn said.
"If I'm getting you two out of three keys, am I getting a two-thirds share of whatever is found?"
"No. We'd like to bring you into this job as muscle. Without us you wouldn't even know this possibility exists," Cassandra said.
"You can be a little greedy, but not that greedy," Ryn told him.
"May I speak to Ryn alone for a moment?" Alex asked.
Cassandra frowned but nodded, standing up. "I'll check and see if they've prepared your payout. I'll give you a few minutes."
Ryn watched her leave and looked back to Alex. "So ..."
"So, I'm smart enough to know when I'm a minnow in front of a shark. Negotiate my cut in exchange for your usual share?" Alex asked.
Ryn beamed a smile at him. "Smart man, Cass is brutal but I know her tricks. I can do that. Is there anything specific you're looking for?"
"You know why I came to this town. My goal first and foremost is to stop whatever is about to happen here. House Windicott probably has a lot of connections that might help."
Ryn winced at that. "If you want to leave it that open-ended you're asking for more than you know. What you must understand about Cassandra is that she is both completely merciless and completely honorable. You want her goodwill going forward, then I can get it, but you'll be giving up a lot to get it. Cassandra knows what that’s worth."
"Will you do it?" Alex asked.
"I can't get a cut out of goodwill," Ryn grumbled. "But yeah. I will, and I’m getting paid a share of the vault anyway. I'll see what I can do. Sit here and look badass or whatever it is you do. I'm going to go find her."
Alex sat as Ryn left the room. It was almost an hour until the two returned, Cassandra tossing him a heavy bag of coins.
"I think we've come to an arrangement. Wha
t do you want my Houses help with?" Cassandra asked.
"Missing ships and murdered girls," Alex said.
"I'm aware of both. I'll make inquiries. When can you start work on the vault?"
"Have Ryn meet me at the keep tomorrow morning. I'll speak with Kationa tonight about the tower."
"A pleasure doing business with you. May it prove profitable for us both," Cassandra said.
Alex could only hope. He suspected the relationship would sour quickly were it otherwise.
24
“If a merchant has a dozen locks on the front door check for another entrance, they’ll have made things easy on themselves somewhere.” Thieving and you. 5th edition
To say that Kationa was less than pleased about allowing access to the tower would be an understatement. There was the matter of House of Towers secrets being seen, the privacy of a fellow mage who was only probably dead, then there was prying too much into what had become of the previous baron.
In the end Alex thought it was her curiosity about what the baron had really been up to that made Kationa agree, on the condition that she accompany them. It was a motley group that assembled the next morning.
Ryn showed up as planned, and Jess upon finding out what they were up to was hardly going to let an adventure like this pass her by. In the end the four of them: Ryn, Alex, Jess, and Kationa were going.
Everyone except for Jess was dressed for combat. Kationa was in a gown with pouches about her waist holding various magical implements, Ryn in leather armor with a bracer of throwing daggers, and Alex in his newly repaired armor. The night had been enough for his wounds to finally heal, although once more Sabrina made sure he barely got more than an hour of sleep. Alex had several fresh gouges in his back to show for it.
Kationa gathered everybody in her laboratory.
She said, "A Mage’s tower is always going to be protected. I can get us in as guests and I might be allowed more privileges, but you all must be careful what you touch and where you go."
"What kind of defenses?" Alex asked.
"Magical constructs most likely. They'll scan you as Glitch. It is also possible that he'll have trained other guardians. Then there are the usual, magical possibilities of spells set to release."
"Fun times," Ryn said, not looking at all fazed.
Kationa brought out a reddish crystal from her robes and tapped it three times, "Renauld de Argentine, Elsorum est Vae."
The air around them dissolved into a cascade of colors and they suddenly found themselves in a small sitting room. There were ornate chaises, and orbs upon pedestals of intricately wrought iron that glowed a dull white.
The chamber was circular, the only exit a wooden door with runes carved from top to bottom.
"He lives nicer than you do," Alex said.
"If you visited my tower you would think otherwise. It is where any practitioner of magic truly feels at home. I have kept rooms in the keep for years, but there is nothing there like in my home," Kationa said, moving to study the door.
The walls were stonework with no hint of a window. Ryn walked the circumference of the room studying them and tapping every so often.
Jess flopped down on one of the chaises. "This is boring. I thought there would be flame traps or something."
"This is a room for arriving guests. I expect that you'll find exactly what you want beyond this door," Kationa said, tracing one of the runes with her finger, the marks glowing a dull red as she did.
"Can we get out?" Alex asked.
"We can, but I am hoping we can do so without setting off his security. Normally if I wanted to visit I would speak with him and request an invitation to his tower. I used the House of Towers to override that step bringing me directly here. Were he still alive he'd have received a notification," Kationa said, tracing another rune on the door.
"So, we're in the holding room for pushy yet important guests?"
"Basically, yes. I was hoping he wouldn't have set up a room specifically for this purpose, but he did and we're surrounded by powerful defensive runes."
"Do what you can," Alex said.
Kationa touched several runes in a row, again each glowing red afterward.
She said, "He was paranoid, I never knew that about him. Everyone gather in the center of the room."
Everyone obeyed and Kationa sketched a chalk circle around them composed of various interlocking runes. Once the circle was completed she set a small crystal at the base of the door and stepped back into the circle with the others.
"Expecting trouble?" Alex asked.
The crystal flared and all the runes on the door flared red simultaneously. The chamber began to rumble. New runes glowed red on the walls as suddenly they surrounded by a whirlwind of flames. The circle and Kationa held it at bay, a shimmering blue cylinder of magic surrounding them.
The onslaught lasted perhaps a minute before fading. The furniture in the chamber had been reduced to char and ash. The door now hung open to reveal a corridor beyond.
Kationa wobbled, looking uncertain on her feet and Alex put a steadying hand on her shoulder.
"Are you okay?" Alex asked.
"That was a lot of power. I'll still be capable of some magic, but I wouldn't expect anything majorly offensive or defensive out of me for a while," Kationa said.
Ryn had made her way to the doorway and looked out. The corridor extended in both directions, curving away.
"I think we must be on the outer edge of the tower," Ryn said.
"If this warding stone was valuable to him it will most likely be in his laboratory," Kationa said.
"No vault?"
"I only knew the man in passing. He never struck me as a collector of any valuables that needed a vault. He also never struck me as the sort to conspire with the baron without telling me about it," Kationa said.
"You really didn't know?" Alex asked.
"Have I given you any reason to question my word? No, I didn't know. If I had, I would have counseled against such idiocy."
"Why don't you scout ahead, Jess?" Ryn asked.
"You just want me to set off all the traps," Jess said.
"Pretty much. Better you than any of us."
Jess almost seemed to pantomime removing her clothes. She looked none the less dressed when she was done although she had an armful of clothing which she shoved at Kationa.
"I'm not ruining my dress with blood or getting it set on fire or anything," Jess said, and stepped confidently out into the hallway.
The instant Jess put a foot outside the doorway two glowing orbs converged on her head. It was a curious sight, the way her head seemed to explode into fragments of blood and bone. A visual that lingered for the briefest of moments before Jess was whole again, tumbling backwards.
"Left or right?" Jess asked, unperturbed.
Looks were exchanged and it was finally Alex who said, "Left."
Kationa indicated that the others should wait and sketched a few sigils in the air before snapping her fingers. Two runes on the ceiling flanking the doorway glowed bright for an instant and faded.
Jess kept moving. A stone sank beneath one of her feet and darts erupted from recessed holes to pepper her flesh. There was again the curious flickering around Jess.
"You're not actually immune to damage, are you? But it isn't accelerated healing like I do," Alex said.
Jess said, "It kind of is, it’s just way faster. I have a really strong matrix and whatever gets done to it quickly gets overwritten by the way I’m supposed to be. It isn't that bad for something like this, but I really didn't like being burned at the stake. That lasted for a really long time."
Progress through the hallway was slow. Ever other step Jess triggered a new trap either magical or mundane. By the time they reached the next doorway she had been frozen, impaled by a spear, decapitated by a string of brilliant light, and doused in acid that fell from the ceiling.
This was a set of double doors with brass handles intricately carved with runes. Kationa kn
elt down to study them.
"Sneaky. This isn't a real doorway, or at least it isn't intended to be used as one. I suspect something very big and nasty awaits on the other side. The handles are identification magic keyed to a teleport spell."
"Can you trigger the spell otherwise?" Alex asked.
"I don't think so."
Jess said, "I can try. I can kind of key my illusions to be what someone must desires. I mean, you know, I mostly use it in other situations and with actual people, but I can try it here."
"Well, I'm intrigued," Ryn said.
Alex was as well, but a bad idea remained a bad idea however tempting.
Kationa said, "It isn't set to do anything bad if the wrong person just touches the handles. Only something bad is likely on the other side. Try it."
Jess stared at the handles with a look of concentration. Her features and form shimmered to become a paunchy man with a heavy mustache and garbed in a black robe. She gripped the handles, the world around them flashed, and they were elsewhere.
The new chamber was also large and circular. Books on shelves lined the walls, and a number of massive glass tubes held blobby-looking masses of flesh floating in a green fluid.
Alex barely had time to take in the surroundings before they were under attack. Hounds made of stone swarmed Jess, ripping and tearing at her flesh, and her illusion shimmered to reveal her true form.
"Do what you can to help her. I'll find the animation crystal," Kationa said.
Alex drew his weapons and focused on the hounds. With Jess' illusion dissipated he was getting the full blasting screech of her dissonance. Still, given how often he was around it at the keep, it was becoming familiar. Not quite background noise, but not the chaos it once was. He could try to work past it.
There it was, faint, but he could just get the hint of a tone.
Sight Hounds
Alignment: Purple
Level: 4
Hitpoints 40/40
Sight Hounds are a magical construct that are commonly found in the labs of mages. They are designed to be able to detect both the flow of quintessence and to see through illusions. In this way they can often aid a mage at identifying threats before they are obvious. While their use is not primarily defensive this is a secondary application and they are formidable against mundane weaponry.