Deadline

by Domino Finn

  "No way," declared his Bravo Team superior. "You know what could happen to you?"

  "I know," he affirmed. "I'll risk whatever it takes."

  I was behind his sentiment and his reasoning, but...

  "There's a better way," I countered. I threw a palm up to silence his objection and continued. "You should go. I think you give us the best chance. But you won't go alone."

  "Anyone else will just slow me down. No offense, Talon, but even you won't be as hidden as me."

  "That's true, but we have the void pearl now. I can go in shadow form."

  "Hold up," said Kyle. "We barely tested that functionality."

  "It enables me to teleport to a party member. I put Crux in ours, teleport him in first, and I follow."

  "What does the shadow form do?" asked Lash.

  I cleared my throat. "It makes me incorporeal. A shadow."

  Glinda cut in. "I think she's asking what kind of offense it gives you to back up our junior party member."

  "I see." Instead of answering, I frowned.

  "No way," said Lash again. "No way he goes without me. We left two people behind last time. I won't let that happen again."

  I sighed patiently. "The whole point is not to be noticed, Lash. And I'm sorry, but you're a little bit... lumbering."

  Her dark eyebrows angled down.

  "You're doing it right now and you're not even moving."

  "Screw stealth," she asserted. "We can fight 'em."

  "We can't."

  "Sure we can," replied Kyle, stepping up beside Lash. "No offense to Bravo Team, but Crux is who got us into trouble the last time we were in Oakengard. Do I need to remind you he drew us into the Inner Hall and got us chased out by keepers? I'll feel better if I'm there. I have my decanter. With a random effect, the tree form's no guarantee, but I always get the best ability needed in the moment. I've gotten repeats before. The tree form is the best defense against the stun of the keepers."

  Lash grumbled. "He's right. As much as I hate to say it, we could use the frat boy over there."

  "You guys aren't getting it," I said. "We can't do this with overwhelming force. If we go in hot, nothing's stopping Hadrian from noticing and locking the fast travel. We can only teleport small groups at a time. We'll be cut off from reinforcements. I can't override Oakengard's portal with the dev menu, at least not from here. And we can't hide an entire party." I shook my head emphatically. "There's a larger game here. I need everyone to do their jobs. Even if everything we do eventually comes down to a battle royale in Oakengard, our efforts elsewhere will add up to so much more."

  "Damn," grumbled Conan. "The long game. I hate when fighting requires thinking."

  "If only war was waged by arm wrestling," said Glinda.

  "Exactly," said Conan, not realizing she was poking fun at him.

  "Extraction then," suggested Gladius. He studied Bravo Team and the nearby city watchmen. "You two go in while we wait by the portal, ready in case you need us."

  "That's a plan," I agreed. "It gives us the best chance to see what's going on in Oakengard, find our missing friends, and get back the soulstone. And if it comes to banging heads, Lash, you'll get your way too."

  The big woman worked her jaw. I couldn't tell if it was soothing her anger or stoking it, but she finally nodded in appeasement. "Fine."

  "Then it's settled," I said, moving to the fast travel. Crux stepped inside the circle with me. I pulled a thin dagger from my inventory and held it out for him.

  "What's that?" he asked.

  "An assassin needle. You once handed it to me in a tough spot."

  "I can't take that."

  "You can and you will. I have two more. This is no longer a symbol of trust. It's a weapon that I can't wield in shadow form. Who knows? You might get a shot at Hadrian with it."

  "I wouldn't take it. I'm a pacifist."

  "Take the damn assassin needle," I snapped. "Consider it an order. You can decide later whether to use it or not."

  Crux ground his teeth and begrudgingly accepted the item. "I suppose I can use the agility bonus."

  "That's the spirit." I went to the party controls and kicked Errol before sending Crux an invite. Once he accepted, I moved to the edge of the circle. "You'll be going in first and I'll teleport to you seconds after. Is Trafford briefed on the procedure, Kyle?" With the brewmaster in the Pantheon, Trafford had to remain in Dragonperch to manually operate the void pearl.

  Kyle nodded. "Briefed and ready."

  The extraction team was ready too. Kyle, Bravo Team, and the centurions and watchmen. They stood in a wide circle watching us.

  "Give me a warning if something big's coming through, will you?" joked Gladius. "I want to take the first crack at it."

  I smiled. "Sure thing." I opened the dev menu and sent Crux through. He disappeared without fanfare. Then I went into party chat.

  Talon: Trafford, do you see Crux on the sanctum display?

  Trafford: The map isn't filled out in his location but he's far out west all right.

  Talon: Good. Send me through.

  Trafford: Your funeral.

  My entire body went black, and the next thing I knew I was in Oakengard.

  1740 Ghost Recon

  "Psst!"

  Crux ducked against the doorway, peeking out and around.

  The large circular room was familiar. Rough brownstone enclosed us, doorways breaking off in three directions. In contrast to the natural texture of the stone walls, the floors were glossy quartz, pale rose, with runners of yellow along the walls. A dull ring of blue marked the portal I stood beside. No one was in sight within or down the hallways.

  Unlike Stronghold, Oakengard's fast travel wasn't in a secured area. Presumably this was to enable easy troop movements. We were inside the fortress, but not the Inner Hall. While this decreased the probability of guards, it also meant we were more prone to encounter random passersby.

  "Psst! You there, Talon?"

  Crux peered through the shadows, no doubt making use of his darkvision. I had the skill as well, though I was surprised to find it was necessary. The crystal sconces dotting the walls were mostly dark. The few that did produce bluish-white light flickered haphazardly. Crux looked right through and past me and continued scanning the room.

  I approached him with a whisper. "I'm here."

  He jumped and spun to the sound, eyes wild.

  I pursed my lips. "You... you can't see me?"

  "No," he said, features relaxing. "Where are you?"

  I glanced down at my body. I was a shadow of myself, literally. A dark mist, transparent and barely there in the dim lighting. Even though I was very near to him, I waved my hand to reveal myself. My body seemed to cohere better than before, still dark but more visible. Interesting.

  Crux breathed a sigh of relief. "There you are." The thief approached and pushed fingers clear through my body.

  "I guess I can be nearly invisible when I want to be discreet. I'm not physical though. You can't touch me."

  "Which means I'm as good as alone here."

  "It's what you wanted, right? Besides, I'm still useful. I can scout ahead. Suffice to say, you'll be doing the heavy lifting. And the light lifting. Well, pretty much anything in the lifting category."

  The young thief was already studying the room. A famous dungeon runner, the bulk of his skills were tuned for this type of activity. It was a real chance for a noncombatant to shine.

  "First problem," he said, nodding toward the doorway we'd used during our last visit. "Grimwart isn't here."

  The good colonel had operated the fast travel during our previous escape before being petrified by hostile keepers. Hrm. I'd kind of assumed it was a permanent condition. "Can statues move?"

  "I don't know."

  I silently cursed. Crux's sister had also been turned to stone. With Grimwart missing, it was likely Hex wouldn't be where we'd left her either. This wasn't gonna be as easy as I thought. "I guess we're taking a tour of Oakengard."


  Crux set his jaw and darted forward down the hall.

  "Wait." He turned impatiently and I pinged a resident ID in the dev menu. "Good. Hadrian's on the other side of the fortress. With any luck he's in some room on lockdown."

  "I guess you can be useful," said the thief with a chuckle. He turned down the hall and I rushed after him.

  We were both fast. In fact, many of the dungeon techniques I employed were borrowed from Crux. He was a heavy contributor to the wiki and an expert in his field. Even though I was in command here, I let him take lead.

  Some way down, Crux plastered himself into a dark alcove and signaled me with a backhand. I scooted into the wall. After a brief wait, voices sounded in the corridor. Men were coming this way.

  I gritted my teeth. Despite Oakengard's large army, our last tour through the fortress had shown it to be fairly desolate. The city had no players—discounting Hadrian. By comparison, the mostly NPC-driven economy seemed sterile and predictable.

  Unfortunately, even the smallest encounter could blow up on us. Oakengard was governed by knights, sages, and until recently, priests. If anybody spied us, no matter how weak, the keepers would be alerted. The city's stone golems would overwhelm the pacifist in seconds.

  "I tell ya, it ain't right," a whisper echoed off the walls.

  "Stop exaggeratin'!" chided a second man. "Our pouches get heavy an' our bellies get filled. What more d'ya want?"

  By now the speakers were coming into view: two men, dressed in chain mail and wearing black robes emblazoned with white crosses. Crusaders.

  Crux spun his head to me. I set my finger to my lips, then faded out as much as I could manage.

  "I'm saying, we need to bring this to Hero Gent."

  "Bah! Since when does one of the Trinity listen to us?"

  "He's a fair man. He'd give us an ear. He has to see what this Hadrian fellow's up to."

  "Shh!" hurried the portly knight. "You'll have us in for disciplinin'! You heard what happened to Rory!"

  The other man waved an emphatic arm as they walked by us. "That's exactly my meaning! Things are strange around here."

  "Nah, we've been mobilizin' for weeks. It's that Bishop Tannen which did it."

  The knights blustered down the hall, alternating between exclamations and whispers. They hadn't noticed us.

  "Piece of cake," mouthed Crux, detaching from his dark spot and pressing forward.

  I continued with renewed curiosity. All the doors we passed were closed, like the fortress was locked down. I wasn't sure if that was unusual, but it jived with the conversation we just overheard. The problem was we didn't know which door to head down. Oakengard wasn't properly mapped. That said, our path wasn't random. We were following the same track Grimwart had led us down, heading to where Hex was last seen. It was useless, I knew, but we had to check.

  Kyle: What's going on over there? Everything okay?

  Talon: Good so far. Just some light recon. Let's stay off the channel until we need it.

  Kyle: Roger that.

  We slowed as the hall ended in a large room like the one we started in. Instead of a fast-travel portal, the center of the room featured a descending spiral staircase with purple banisters. To our misfortune, the sconces worked well in here, giving off constant light and only occasionally glitching. We cautiously peeked in and spotted the two sentinels we knew would be posted within, the stone keepers of Oakengard.

  They had smooth, glass-like body parts, a jumble of floating rocks the color of smoke. A large torso, a head, and an oblong stone or two for arms. Their disparate pieces hovered near each other, tethered by an electric glow. Instead of the usual soft white, they lit up with purplish energy. Like everything else around here, they were the same, but different.

  It didn't need to be said, but being made of super-dense rock conferred the keepers with ample defensive qualities. As for when they went on the attack, they could spawn energy batons that stunned their prey and, given the opportunity, utilize a special move that petrified their enemies into black rock.

  Hence why Grimwart and Hex were no longer with us.

  Crux switched to party chat so we could communicate in silence.

  Crux: I think I can get past them.

  Talon: Down the stairs? That's crazy!

  Crux: I'm not going for the stairs.

  The thief pointed to the north end of the room where there was an adjoining hallway.

  I bit down. That's where we'd left his sister. As much as we needed to check the status of the Trinity and locate the soulstones, Hex was the priority. To be honest, I couldn't stop Crux if I tried. It was the whole reason he'd volunteered for the solo mission. I surveyed the room, gauging the odds of the expert thief slipping past the inhuman senses of the keepers. It was a much easier task than getting down the steps, but it wouldn't be easy.

  Talon: I'll go. Wait here.

  The young thief started to move, but I solidified in his face with a glare of warning. I respected his passion for his sister but I couldn't have a mutiny here. He swallowed and nodded.

  I faced the room and took a breath. The void pearl had protected me from detection this long. As far as I could tell it would continue to do so. I swallowed. Nothing like a test run.

  I moved into the chamber, sticking to the wall by force of habit. It was a straight shot to the adjoining hall. Five steps in, one of the keepers hummed twice, opaque stone head lighting from the inside.

  I pressed into the wall and froze, as invisible as I could be. The stone head turned my way. I waited in a small heap, thinking the jig was up.

  Damn Izzy and her newfound historical slang.

  The keeper's head spun past me, twisting around in a full circle like an owl's. It came to rest back where it started with nary a warning call. I was too scared to breathe out and figured the sooner I cleared the room, the better. I hurried into the hallway and down until the bend, where I was greeted with another empty corridor.

  Talon: No go. No eyes on Hex or Grimwart.

  I considered checking further down. This was the Inner Hall, off limits to all but the highest-ranked Oakengardians. Saint Loras had worked out of here. It stood to reason we might find something important.

  Shouts echoed from the stairway room. Crux had been spotted. I hurried back, skidding to a stop at the edge of the doorway.

  Crux: We've got visitors.

  I relaxed. The thief was still hidden. At least, I couldn't see him. Instead the commotion was coming from a large crusader being escorted by two of his fellow knights. Except the two men were wearing purple instead of black.

  Talon: This is new.

  "I shall not idly follow," spat the large man. He shoved his shoulder into one of the purple knights. The other tried to intervene but was staved off by the big one's glare.

  "You must," insisted one of the purples. "You've been summoned."

  "Listen to reason, Rygar," said the other.

  "I'm a crusader of Oakengard," said the man in black. "I reason with my blade." He drew a large broadsword with a faint yellow glow.

  His opponents' blades flashed. Rygar parried one, then the other, sending a kick back to the first. The purple knight fell on his back and dropped his weapon. The other two fighters exchanged a few thrusts before slowing. They waited as the first climbed to his feet.

  "We're brothers," tempered the unarmed man. "Come down and see for yourself."

  "You're the Violet Order," exclaimed Rygar.

  "One and the same."

  The true crusader puffed his chest out. "Quite the opposite, in fact. You ceased being my brother when you donned that color."

  The other man's face soured. His eyes went to the sword on the floor.

  Double doors in the main wall slammed open. "Truth is in the eye of the beholder," announced Hadrian.

  I cursed and checked the dev menu. His position had shifted, of course. Instead of being locked down in a single room, the Whisperer had the run of the fortress. I squinted at his smug countena
nce. Attached to a necklace and hanging against his chest were the three crystal triangles that had previously hovered above the Trinity: the trijewel.

  The knights in the room stiffened. I was invisible and even I did the same. Hadrian was always a little off, but now he looked like a supervillain. At certain angles, his eyes glowed the same purple that animated the keepers.

  "We are of one fortress," said the Whisperer, apparently now the Protector of Oakengard. "We can also be of one order—the Violet Order. All you need to do is be of one mind."

  The black knight sneered. "Is this the choice you gave the colonel?"

  Hadrian scowled. "He lacked devotion."

  "Fie on that! I see you for what you are, Whisperer. The Violet Order are nothing more than catechist upstarts, in the footsteps of Bishop Tannen. You'll share the same fate as them, the fate of traitors!"

  Hadrian dropped his eyes to the floor with a long sigh. "I do this for your own good, Sir Rygar." He ticked a finger toward the man and the two keepers energized into bright red. They advanced and hummed loudly.

  Rygar's eyes widened. "The holy keepers! It cannot be!" His sword was raised but faltering. The purple knights flanked the man, now surrounded on four fronts.

  I clenched my jaw. It was stupid, but my instinct was to help the knight in black. Draw my dragonspear and dash into the fray with reckless abandon. But I was a shadow, less than one. I could no more intervene than they could see me. And Crux was a sworn pacifist, refusing to fight even when his sister had been in trouble.