For The Guild (Emerilia Book 2)

by Michael Chatfield

  “Well, seeing as you’re looking for a new place to live, I have an area in mind.” Bob gave her a winning smile.

  “Where is it, what’s in it, and what do you want from us?” Kala asked.

  “It’s Devil’s Crater. Right now, not much, except fields that need cleaning up a little, natural fortifications, seven mostly intact fortresses, and a natural curtain wall around the entire thing. I want you to teach the Demons to be soldiers.” Bob smiled.

  “So, you’re offering to send us to Devil’s Crater, the homeland of the Demons, and teach them to be soldiers. First, are you insane? And second, Fire no!” Kala barked.

  “Hear me out.” Bob sighed.

  “I would offer you a real drink, but all we’ve got is water,” Kala said.

  Bob pulled up his inventory, selecting one of the wines he kept on him at all times. He opened a pouch on his belt and pulled it out, handing it to her.

  “Thank you.” Kala looked excited by the promise of booze. She moved to grab cups.

  “So, what is coming, it’s going to need people to band together. Right now, the Demons are pigheaded and don’t understand anything more than facing their hordes at the enemy and yelling charge. Only Alkao’s Black Hands were anything like adept at true war fighting. The rest were secure in the knowledge that they were strong in their individual skills; there was nothing to promote them working together. Right now, they’re training their forces instead of gathering supplies for returning to Emerilia, the kind of training that only ends when they lose consciousness,” Bob said dryly.

  “So, what do you want from us?” Kala held out a cup to Bob.

  He took it with a nod of thanks. “I want you to teach them not as warriors, but as soldiers. How to fight together and rely on one another. It can be the start of turning them into something terrifying,” Bob said.

  “Why, by all things good, do you want to make the Demons better at fighting?” Kala frowned.

  “That is for me to worry about and I don’t want to make them better at fighting. I want you to make them better at fighting. They need to appreciate that they can get slapped around by others, to understand that they have much to learn. Imagine if your two groups worked together? Demons and the Demis; kind of has a ring to it. At the very least, could you have a meeting with them? I will mediate and no one will get hurt.” Bob sipped his drink.

  Kala took her time, drinking her wine before she sighed, looking like her true seventy-eight years. “We owe you much, Lo’kal. We will meet with them, but you shall need to share with me your plan.”

  “You should know by now I don’t have a plan—I just move things by nudges. I create meetings and possibilities. What you lot do with them is up to you.” Bob saluted her with his drink.

  “What about Anna’s preparations?” Kala asked.

  “Uhh, well…” Bob scratched his head awkwardly.

  Kala raised an amused eyebrow at Bob’s reaction. “You forgot to tell her.”

  “Yeah, well, there was a lot going on and she was doing other things! Though, now I can tell her she can keep worrying about the other things until you and the Demons decide what you want to do!” Bob smiled happily.

  “You just hope that she doesn’t find out you forgot about making her a quest.”

  “Oh, shut up,” Bob said into his cup.

  Kala’s amused chuckle rumbled through the tent. “Very well. I will meet with these Demons tomorrow. I’m leaving telling Anna about this up to you.”

  “Fine.” Bob drank more of the wine.

  Chapter 30: Progress!

  Dave stood, cracking his back and grunting. It had been a long day, but it was only starting.

  He checked the soul gems that Bob had sent him. Pulling one out and holding it in his hands, he spun it around and played with it, looking at the beautiful dancing lights in its midst.

  “Malsour, how are we looking?” Dave asked over the party voice chat.

  “All good on my side. I think we’re ready to get out of here.”

  “Nice. Suzy, how are the spikes doing?”

  “We’ve got them at fifty percent submersion into the magical ley line. We’re holding there as we’re powering the base’s soul gems and the few connected train carts. We’re pumping power into the portals and teleport pads so we can start powering these soul gem trains and moving them around,” Suzy said.

  “We’ve just reached enough charge to keep a portal to Alephir open on the transfer platform,” Anna said, referring to the level with the train carts and train tracks.

  “Have you connected to Shard?” Dave asked, signaling to the other crafters in the room with him to finish up what they were studying and to follow him.

  “Connection complete.” Shard sounded smug and his regular self instead of his robotic subsystem. “I have enough power to activate guardian forces within the power station and make sure that nothing else shows up.”

  “Good stuff. You need anything else from us?” Dave asked.

  “I should be good. I am opening a portal on the transfer level to Alephir. I can then begin to move soul gems in and out of the power station and lower the charging forks more to increase power output as we’ll have somewhere to put it.”

  A ping announced a change in their quest.

  Quest: Aleph Homecoming

  You have restarted an Aleph power station.

  Rewards: Increased power usage to assist in other activities.

  30,000 EXP

  Increased standing with Aleph people

  “Well, if this is all sorted out, then we have places to be. We’re due at the automaton workshop next,” Deia said.

  “Woohoo! Scrapyard!” Steve quipped.

  “You were made in one of those scrapyards,” Anna said.

  “Wow, Mom, way to make me feel better about myself,” Steve said, trying to sound hurt.

  Dave shook his head at the twelve-foot-tall AI’s antics.

  Everyone had cleared up their gear, so Dave started walking for the teleport pad that would take them from the power station and to the automaton workshop.

  “Be wary. I cannot connect to the workshop. It seems that my filters are blocking access. It might be an error, but there might be malignant runes there,” Shard warned.

  “Dammit, I told you to make those system purges routine!” Anna said.

  “Yes, well, this was one facility where they were trying different things with the part of my consciousness stored there.”

  “Well, that sounds ominous,” Dave said.

  “What do you mean by malignant runes?” Deia asked.

  “Well, a section of runes that have been altered or changed, either on purpose or by accident or evolution of the AI in the facility and that have a possible negative effect on my original coding if I was to integrate it,” Shard said.

  “What will that mean for us?”

  “It means that we might be working with an AI that doesn’t agree to our security clearances, to one that is controlling the creatures in the workshop and is possibly aggressive toward other life-forms,” Anna replied.

  “Great.” Deia sounded displeased.

  ***

  Deia looked through the teleport pads portal, or “event horizon” as Dave was calling it, and into the automaton workshop. It was pitch-black, not a single magical light anywhere. Deia shot out fire lamps; they moved through the portal, headed off to the corners of the room and brightening it for everyone to see.

  It was a teleport pad room, with the same three control rooms facing the teleport pad. The biggest difference was the weapon stations facing the teleport pad.

  “What are those?” Dave asked.

  “Repeaters. They’re four crossbows stacked two across, two deep. They can reload by themselves, firing four bolts every two seconds. They have the power to harm scout guardians. Depending on the type of arrows, they could even give a behemoth pause.” Steve sounded serious for once.

  “Damn,” Dave said.

  Deia clipped the back o
f his head.

  “What?” he asked, looking hurt.

  “No, you can’t pull them apart. We get the workshop working first, then you can play with them,” she said.

  Dave rubbed his head, muttering something about mind readers that her Elven ears picked up.

  She shook her head. “Well, let’s go and see what’s waiting for us,” Deia said.

  The fighters went first, Anna leading with Dave and Deia behind. Mages behind them, and then support behind them.

  They walked into the workshop. The air smelled stale and musty, as if it hadn’t moved in years. A few people coughed as Steve looked around.

  “Connecting to the different systems. Damned air systems are down. Got some nasty buildup of carbon dioxide in places. Going to need some power to turn it back on. Got a control station just up that corridor that we can get into.” Steve pointed his axe at one of the doors that led out of the teleport pad room.

  The event horizon showing the power station closed as the runes on the teleport pad stopped glowing, leaving light up to the glowing balls of fire that were burning up their precious air.

  “Let’s get going. Next time ask before you connect to the systems,” Deia admonished.

  “As I’m soul bound to Suzy, my defenses against attacks targeting my runes are really difficult. I can change myself but Suzy is bound to me. Anything that’s exterior, her Willpower will bitch slap it away,” Steve said happily.

  “Great. Good to know that my soul is good anti-virus software,” Suzy said dryly as Dave chuckled.

  A few of the other Players coughed or shook their heads, trying to hide their amusement.

  Deia looked to her notifications to see that the quest had been updated.

  Quest: Aleph Homecoming

  You have entered an Aleph Automaton Workshop. The Workstation has been silent for decades.

  Turn air filters back on.

  Find if there are any issues with the AI runes.

  Rewards: Ability to improve/repair current automatons and create new automatons.

  “Let’s get that air back on and then we’ll move to where the AI’s runes are held. Everyone stick together. We don’t know what we’ll be fighting here,” Deia said. “Steve, you’ve got the lead.”

  “Yes, ma’am.” Steve saluted with his axe, making whistling noises as they walked.

  “How are you whistling?” Dave asked.

  “Don’t worry about it. I got my secrets—you got yours,” Steve said.

  “Is it a recording?” Anna asked.

  “No!” Steve said, his tone making it clear that it was.

  “Right.” Anna sounded amused as they continued to walk.

  It didn’t take long for them to reach the air filter controls. Dave went to work. A few minutes later, the air seemed to circulate once again, smelling a little better.

  “Now, let’s go and find these runes,” Deia said, getting them moving once again.

  ***

  “Did you hear that?” Deia paused. The three parties slowed as they cocked their heads to hear whatever she was talking about.

  “Yeah, it sounds like…DOWN!” Anna yelled. Everyone ducked.

  Arrows filled the air.

  “Ow! That hurt!” Steve yelled as one hit him and exploded on impact.

  Deia threw out light orbs while darklings ripped out of the walls, their hunger driving them to find whatever was attacking their master and his friends.

  Suzy opened a holding pouch she had until the opening was big enough to fit a person. She threw it; metal and ebony cores fell out, melding together into metal creations. Glass cores fell out, hovering in mid-air before racing to follow the darklings.

  “Well, I think I know now maligrant? Malihignat? Maliant?”

  “Malignant!” Anna yelled, correcting Steve.

  “Yeah, that’s the one!”

  Deia had her bow up as she fired at the moving darkness. Her Elven eyesight allowed her to pick out the automatons that were crowding the hallway. They looked to be in bad repair, as if someone had thrown parts together to see if they would work.

  Automaton Experiment

  Level 231

  “Well, shit,” Dave said. He must’ve seen the same thing as he fired his bow, making one with a large upper body but a dozen spindly legs stagger.

  “Watch out!” Anna yelled as two creatures walked out. They looked like repair bots with their multiple small limbs. Instead of having manipulating parts on the top of their bodies, they had repeaters.

  Another hail of arrows filled the hall.

  “Fire wall!” Induca said. A wall of flames rushed out in front of the parties to meet the arrows.

  “Rise!” Malsour said. Barricades and cover rose from the ground to cover everyone.

  Induca’s wall destroyed most of the arrows, stopping over the automatons that writhed in the heat. Their Health dropped by the second. They focused their attacks on Induca, making her duck. The wall of fire faded.

  “Say hello to my little friend!” Dave yelled.

  Deia looked over to see him move out of his cover, holding a crossbow that should have been mounted on a wall.

  He fired the three-foot-long bolt. The crossbow loaded another bolt in and charged. Dave fired as fast as he could pull the trigger.

  Deia watched with wide eyes. He never reloaded once, but he continued to fire, bolt after bolt.

  Deia shook her head. She held up her bow, peeking out of the side of her cover. Her arrow glowed orange and then red before she let loose. It slammed into a scout-centurion mix, taking off its arm and making it fall on its ass.

  “Fire-nado!” Induca said.

  Deia cringed at the terrible name that Dave and Induca had come up with for her new attack.

  Six tornados made of Fire grew out from the midst of the automatons, focusing all of their heat into one location and sucking in Air to keep up its onslaught.

  “Woohoo! Fuck yeah!” Steve waved his axe around in glee as an automaton threw a spear at him. “Don’t have to be a dick about it!” Steve barked, ducking.

  A large spear appeared beside Steve.

  “Thanks, Dave!” Steve launched his spear, sticking it through the automaton that had tried to hit Steve.

  Deia got glances of her allies, firing arrow after arrow. Each one hit with imbued Fire energy and exploded on impact. It was getting harder and harder to hit as Induca’s spell grew in strength, pulling projectiles into its tornados.

  Anyone who was ranged was firing at the automatons; the fighters hunkered down. The support gave what buffs they had but this support were more crafters and maintainers than healers and buffers.

  “Cease fire!” Deia called out as she saw that the repeaters were now no longer able to get close to them, their own attacks weak in comparison.

  “Curse of magical weakness,” Malsour called out. Black and purple colored the automatons. With a wave of his hand, he banished the darklings that had been harassing the automatons. They lost strength in the light of his sister’s Fire-nado.

  “Keep your eyes open. Once they’re down, we’re going to be making a run right for the AI’s runes. We shut that down, we shut down this entire place and these big bastards!” Deia had to yell to be heard over Induca’s spell.

  “Steve or Dave, get us a waypoint to it!”

  The automatons, realizing that their attacks weren’t landing, tried to move forward, only to find themselves pulled back into the middle of the tornados. Some of the smaller creatures were pulled off their feet, the tornados pulling them apart with heat and the force of swirling wind.

  Deia saw Suzy’s metal creations that had been on the sidelines move back. Her Air creations forced more wind into the tornados, keeping them alive and fueled.

  “Focus,” Induca said. The tornados shrank to half their size, turning from red flames to blue.

  The automatons’ Health plummeted. With Malsour’s curse and Induca’s now superheated hell, the walls started to deform from the heat. Automatons
were pulled, ripped apart, melted, and generally destroyed.

  After a few minutes, Induca’s spell started to weaken.

  A shiny ball of red hot metals was all that was left of the automatons.

  “Let’s move!” Deia said, getting to the head of the parties.

  Malsour dropped the barricades.

  “Absorb,” Deia muttered. She felt the heat of the room flow into her, turning into energy. Her Mana bar filled, and topped up her armor’s internal reserves.

  The heat loss was the only way that the others would be able to make it through the smoking hot ruin of what had been the automatons’ position.

  Deia fired out balls of Fire to illuminate their passage. Suzy’s Air creations surged ahead, looking for more enemies.

  “It seems that they had some kind of group stealth system. Be ready for them to show up anywhere!” Dave said.

  Those scout guardians were a pain in the ass already. If this AI can hide its forces, this just got a lot harder.

  They turned a corner and up a set of stairs, coming out into a massive area. Automatons rested in charging cradles all over the room. Four stories of guardians with cranes and other machines were ready to move them. They rushed past three more storage areas and into what looked like a workshop. Here, there were a dozen fighter automatons in various stages of assembly.

  The next had archers, and then centurions. Deia even saw a room filled with a half-dozen behemoths.

  She ran faster, looking at the different automatons, scared that one of them might leap up and attack them.

  They skidded into a hallway and toward their destination: the central command center.

  They had come in through one of the four teleport pads that were at each of the corners of the automaton workshop. The facility was a large rectangle that was split into four sections. All of them met in the middle, where the command center waited.

  “Watch out!” Deia called, diving to the side as bolts filled the air. She threw a fireball back at the automaton experiments that had appeared.