Now that they had the vault classed soul gems, she was able to heal more people than ever before, though it also meant the mental strain on her was something to behold. She rubbed her temples, looking at the different People of Emerilia who were coming in through the door.
There were so many of them.
Her medics were doing a good job of prioritizing them over the Players. Sure, they might die and lose a few levels but if the POEs went, then they wouldn’t come back.
After Boran-al’s Citadel, that type of thinking had sunk into the Stone Raiders’ normal methods of operating.
She looked at a guard who had a number of superficial cuts and then a nasty gash on her abdomen and down her side.
“Well, shit, could you manage to try to keep your bits inside of your body?” Jules went to work, scanning the woman with her medical skills and calling out different items she would need from her assistant.
The woman groaned. Even with her massive injuries, she was somehow conscious and fighting.
“Don’t worry. You’re in good hands now,” Jules said, keeping her metallic implements out of her view and nodding to the assistant.
The assistant pressed their hand to the injured woman’s head, knocking her out.
“Now let’s get to work!” Jules used her magic to heal up the worst of the injuries and followed up with stitches, clamps, and sutures on anything that wasn’t completely life threatening.
Her assistant continued to pass her items as Jules hoped that her patient would wake up afterward.
***
Josh and the captain of the guard looked out over Selhi Capital. Both of them assessed the varying degrees of damage that had been visited on the town. Thankfully, with the Players around, there was a ready supply of people ready and willing to take on quests.
The city had moved funds from the monster hunt to try to help those who had their homes destroyed and their loved ones killed. A big chunk of it had gone into a contract on all of the PKPs. It was sent to all of the main guilds, from the traders to the mages.
The captain of the guard sighed, shook his head and walked away from the sight.
Josh followed, headed toward where the magistrate of the city waited.
The guards all watched him with barely veiled suspicion as he walked through the halls. Dwayne, Induca, and Malsour were with him. The others tended to the wounded or helped out where they could.
In Kim’s case, putting herself back together.
Josh tried to not blame himself—it wasn’t his fault—but it was hard not to. He’d lost Players and a number of POEs who had turned into Stone Raiders. They would be remembered and their families earned a stipend for their sacrifice.
And we will destroy those who remain loyal to the PKP. We will tear the guild down until it is but a footnote in the history of Emerilia.
He moved into the room with the magistrate, who was talking with her advisers over a large map that depicted Selhi Capital and the surrounding area.
The captain of the guard walked up, being greeted before they continued their talking and planning. It was clear that Josh was not invited to join them at this time.
Josh waited to be called on.
They continued to ignore him, so he started using his interface. He had many guild matters to deal with. People had logged off, checking out the guild home. They’d found those who were there, running their names against those they had lost and making sure that they had their gear set aside for when they came back.
The loot pool was being looked over by the Exdar’s Traders who were still in town. They’d been able to escape the fighting and were being loaded down with all of the PKP’s gear to be sold throughout Emerilia.
Everyone earned a part of the guild’s winnings. Any gear that they wanted to get they had to either barter with the person who was selling it, use their guild points, or convince their party leaders and section leaders of their need for the item.
If they used their guild points, then the guild would reimburse the seller the cost of the item and the user got their item. The more guild points they earned, the more gear they could get. Guild points were earned for doing different feats, helping out, completing quests, and a multitude of other things.
Sometimes section leaders—like Josh, Dwayne, Kim, or Lucy—would have a party leader request a piece of gear for someone who could use it if they had neither the funds nor the guild points.
The inner-guild trading system was going haywire as Stone Raiders from all over the place were bartering for all kinds of items.
The PKP were a rich guild, as shown by their gear. Killing Players was good for business, apparently. They hadn’t been an easy enemy and their gear had been the best, either stolen from their victims or bought with the gold of their trade.
Still, they were Action users for the most part. They also had the backing of the Dark Lord. That guy is a pain in the ass.
Josh was thinking it was about time that he pulled down a few temples dedicated to the Dark Lord.
He opened a voice chat with Lucy.
“What?” she demanded, right in the middle of the guild’s trades and then liaising with the Exdar’s Traders guild. The amount of weapons and gear the PKP had on them was immense, with nearly five hundred members in the city to take out the Stone Raiders. Josh didn’t envy her work.
“I was wondering about your curse. Couldn’t the Lady of Fire get rid of it if she gave the PKP her blessing?” Josh asked.
“Well, yeah, of course. I don’t think there is anyone more skilled in Fire magic, though I doubt that she would.”
“Why? She is a lady of the Affinities Pantheon.”
“Yes, but she is also one who accepts no contributions from those who follow her. She gives them lessons and shows them how to use their skills in her various schools. She does not have one temple. Her schools are fueled with her power and accept people of all manners of Affinity and level. You might know them as the mage’s colleges,” Lucy said.
“Wait, what? She made the mage’s colleges?” Josh said. His voice got him some irritated looks.
“Yes. It was all rather discreet and because she did not take power from the people, she was venerated but never empowered. Now few know of the origins of the mage’s guild, thinking that they were part of the original guilds, like the adventurer’s and trader’s, brought about by the Gray God.”
“Damn. The more I learn about Emerilia, the more secrets I find, though why wouldn’t she help them?”
“They got themselves into this mess, they should learn to get themselves out of it—seems to be the way she works. Unless a person is good and they have been hurt by her magic, then she will not remove soul magic upon them. She might make them atone for their sins in some manner, though it will not be an easy task. She is not a lenient lady.” Lucy sounded as if she thoroughly approved.
“If she doesn’t have any power to keep her up, then how the hell does she maintain her position?” Josh asked. The conversation veered off the original question but he was interested.
“She made the mage’s colleges and subsequent guild. What kind of magic do you think she knows? Denur might be the mother of dragons, but do you know who created her? I’ll give you a guess.”
“The dragons are her Creatures of Power?” Josh said. “So, she might not have all that much Mana to draw from, but she is one scary lady, supported by some of the most powerful beasts on Emerilia. Scary.”
“Everything she does, she does through her own Mana pool. How big do you think her Mana pool must be? While the other lords and ladies use the power of those devoted to them, she made the dragons from her own power. She nurtures and blesses them with her own power,” Lucy said.
“Shit. I would not like to meet someone who has been practicing magic for a few hundred years. That would be one hell of a scary Mana pool.” Josh saw that someone was walking over toward him, an aide of some sort.
“The magistrate will see you now.” The aide turned around with ju
st the right amount of disdain to make it clear to Josh but without revealing it to the rest of the room.
Sweet, even the aides are a prissy bunch.
“Talk later, Lucy. If you need my people to help out, let them know. Idle hands and all that!”
“Look who’s talking,” Lucy said dryly, cutting the channel.
Josh snorted and found the magistrate looking at Josh, trying to keep her face neutral though he could make out the tension at the corners of her eyes. Josh had picked up a few lessons on reading people from playing poker with his Wall Street buddies and when dealing with different clients.
“Magistrate Houn.” Josh nodded toward the regal-looking human.
“Josh Giles, leader of the Stone Raiders,” she said, her voice hard and angry.
Well, I don’t like the sound of that.
“You came to this city, bringing with you a feud that has killed nearly two hundred of my people and the destruction of many buildings and holdings in this city. The eastern walls have been weakened and monster season is upon us. What do you have to say for yourself?”
So that’s how it’s going to be, scapegoating, huh? Awesome. “We came to Selhi Capital with the intention of helping with the monster hunt.”
“Tried to push his guild’s troubles onto us, more like!” an adviser growled.
The magistrate didn’t try to stop them, the fire clear in her eyes.
“Fuck it. Seeing as you want to have someone to blame, do it. Bring it. Blame us. We’re the fucking Stone Raiders, lass. You know what that fucking means? It means we’re going to hunt down those PKP fuckers like the dogs they are. We’re going to kill them so many fucking times that the fucking ground will know their corpses better than it knows the mountains and trees that live on it. We will wipe their fucking guild out. There won’t be a fucking indicator that they ever existed in all of fucking Emerilia.”
Josh smiled now, thinking of the destruction he would level on the PKP. “We will bring the Dark Lord to his knees and we will make him beg for mercy. To beg for forgiveness and we will send him to the underworld. He might be a god, might be a lord of the Affinities Pantheon. To us, he’s a fucking plaything. A mild annoyance. We will use his pawns to grow stronger. Their blood will be our strength until we bring him and his fuckers down to Emerilia. So blame us, tell us that it was our fault as you have no one else to blame. Say all you fucking want about us. We. Don’t. Give. A. Shiny. Shit. But remember this. We could have run—we could have left you to die by yourselves. Instead, we stayed. We fought them when you couldn’t. You might grow old and die, but the Stone Raiders intend to be around for decades. Think carefully about your decisions,” Josh finished. It was good to get off his chest.
They stared at him as if he were some savage dog. He didn’t give a fuck. He was angry and they were here treating him as though he were the criminal, not the people who had attacked them.
“I ban you and all of those who are part of the Stone Raiders from Selhi. You have one day to leave our borders or else you will be deemed a hostile force.” The magistrate’s face split into a cold, pleased smile. “The forests are a dangerous place this time of year, Player.” She used the word like it was a curse.
“Also, the toll for the teleport pad has risen by five hundred percent. I do hope you have the coin for it.”
Josh could see the greed in her face. “No worries, sweet magistrate. We have others in need of our services.” Josh gave an elegant bow, turned and left.
He opened up a chat to all of his Stone Raiders.
“All aid is to cease. Prepare the guild to leave. We have been banished from Selhi for our efforts. Prepare for the upcoming raid. Pass the word onto those respawning. Make sure that our goods are protected. Get Dave to talk to the Zolun Mountain Dwarves. We will do our trading there,” Josh said out loud as he left the room.
He closed the voice chat and walked to the forty-foot balcony. He smiled happily, looked back at the magistrate and her advisers, flipped them the bird and jumped off the balcony.
His only wish was that he could see their faces as he jumped off a forty-foot high wall.
He used blink-step, slowing his speed as he landed halfway through the courtyard. Guards looked at him in shock.
Malsour, Deia, Induca, and Anna were waiting for him. He could feel their palpable anger as a notification popped up.
Quest: Restore Order
The Stone Raider guild has accepted the quest to kill or capture any and all who have disturbed the peace in Selhi’s capital. For successfully completing the quest, they receive:
Rewards: Banishment
“Now is not the time to fight. We have wounded and dead to see to. We don’t need to increase those numbers,” Josh said, getting nods from the others. “It might take months…it might take years, but we’ll pay them back for this betrayal.”
The others looked mollified by his words and followed him out of the manor. None of the guards tried to stop them.
***
The magistrate looked away from the balcony as Josh disappeared, not wanting to show her shock. “Make sure that they are followed,” she said to the captain of the guard, moving to the rear of the room.
“Magistrate, do you think it is best to ban them? Sure, the people need someone to be angry at right now. They are angry at the PKP, but lumping the Stone Raiders who actually helped us with them? It sets a dangerous precedent,” the captain said, his voice low so that no one else could hear.
“We need to look strong. This cycle of Players has just started. The Stone Raiders are interesting, but they are weak of level and people.” She waved her hand indifferently. “They will be one of the guilds that crumbles and falls eventually.”
“They have gathered POEs into their ranks and even my guards are full of nothing but praise for them,” the captain said gruffly.
She looked to him, anger in her eyes. “They are nothing but a weak guild. If they do not leave our lands in one day, then their gear will help grow our coffers to pay for the repairs,” the magistrate hissed. The cost of having the monster hunt had already lowered their treasury.
She made to continue walking as three powerful auras made her pause in her step. A cold bead of sweat ran down her spine at the sheer power behind those three auras. She turned slowly and looked out of her manor. She hadn’t felt a presence like this since her young days when she had ventured to Ashal.
Others wilted and fell to their knees in fear. The captain of the guard held firm and looked at her.
She’d just dismissed the leader of people who rivaled dragons. As quickly as the pressure had started, it disappeared, as if it was never there.
How are they that powerful already? Who are those three?
The magistrate remembered old words from her mentor, now long dead: Never make a deal without knowing all of the circumstances.
She shook off the words. She had made her declaration; going against it now would make her seem weak. “Make sure that you have the best people on hand. Take them from the army if you must.” She turned and left quickly.
Chapter 17: Disappearing Act
Dave’s timer finally hit zero.
He was one of the last Stone Raiders to go back into the game. He’d been playing another simulation, one about mechs and space. It had been different and interesting, giving him ideas for the future.
They’d talked about things happening back on Earth. About different stars that Dave remembered but didn’t care for. It was odd, as if glancing back on a part of his past that he couldn’t quite truly remember.
“See you on the other side!” Dave said.
Light enveloped his vision as he looked up at the six Affinities. His eyes found the gray circle that encompassed them all.
He rolled off the altar, finding Shard.
“It is good to see you well.” Shard smiled.
“Same here.” Dave looked over his body. His notifications blinked at him.
You Have Died
For
dying, you lose:
x4 levels and their associated points.
Your classes (You can gain them back by gaining level 10 again). All tests are reset.
Your equipment not already soul bound.
21 gold, 7 silver, and 2 coppers.
You were looted by:
Malsour Dracul
Dave moved to his stat sheet, disregarding the other prompts as he put his stat points back into place, earning all his classes back. Power once again filled him as he stepped off the altar.
He found that his gear was waiting beside the altar, in his pack. Luckily it was soul bound and followed him through death to his respawn location.
“How do you feel?” Shard asked.
“Good. Even fixed that knot in my back from bending over while smithing,” Dave said.
Shard moved into a flurry of questions as Dave looked around the room. He had never been in a place like it. There were all kinds of terminals around the altar. Not the usual temples that housed many altars.
“Are you studying this thing?” Dave asked.
“Classified,” Shard said.
“Ahh, hmm, interesting. I’d like to know how it works as well. I feel fine—at least my body’s aches and pains are gone. I probably have a new body with most of my stats. I don’t know if the level loss is because of it being harder to copy a body to that degree so they make it as close as possible. Or if it is a central mechanic to the whole system. Making people not want to die because they lose their gear, coin, experience, and have to travel a hell of a distance to get their gear back.” Dave used his interface to put the gear into an outfit so that he could quickly change into it if he needed to.
“How go the experiments on the soul gems?” Dave put the pack on.
“Well, better than I had hoped. I believe that it will allow for a great power retention across Aleph. I have also been studying the Mana capture net that you showed me. It is rather ingenious and I hope to start trials as soon as I have the power and automatons for the task.” Shard sounded excited for the future.
For The Guild (Emerilia Book 2) Page 22