by Trey Myr
Two gremlins leaped at each of Ed's phantasms, overwhelming the fox-kin and clockwork archer in a matter of seconds. The dwarf fared better, having been given an Armored Combat Shard the day before, and managed to fend off his two attackers. Four more gremlins leapt at Lucy and Ed, and were on them before Lucy could cast any spells. Ed dropped his crossbow and pulled out his quarterstaff in time to meet the monsters, but he didn't have much hope of being able to defend himself against four of the quick gremlins, let alone protect Lucy.
The four gremlins closed in on Ed and Lucy, and he caught the first on his staff, sending it tumbling away, but the second managed to clump on his right arm, its teeth piercing deep into Ed's flesh. The other two gremlins leapt past him, aiming for Lucy, who managed to get a Firebolt out at the last second and take out one of her attackers. The second monster was a millimeter away from her neck when something whistled next to her ear, and the gremlin suddenly jerked back in mid-leap, a knife sprouting from its neck.
Ed grabbed the gremlin attached to his arm and threw it away from him, and another knife suddenly appeared in one of its eyes, even as Lucy called up a Chromatic Storm on the phantasmal dwarf, who was fighting his own gremlins, and the four who killed the fox-kin and archer. Another knife finished off Ed's second gremlin, and the battle was over even before a rampaging Ingrid forced her way through the traps to get back to their side.
The three delvers, now without any summoned aid, stood back to back and scanned the surrounding forest for the knife thrower, but couldn't see anything other than the trees, bushes and dead gremlins.
"Please, is no need to be afraid," a feminine voice called from somewhere in the forest. "I wish to be friend, yes?"
"Who are you?" Ingrid asked, spinning towards the voice. "And how did you get into the Labyrinth with us?"
"Forgive me, but I will not give name yet," the voice called from the opposite direction. "Not unless we reach agreement. And I walked into Labyrinth right behind you. Labyrinth let me in because you are only three, yes?"
"It was you two days ago, wasn't it? In the slime floor?" Ed's eyes narrowed as he remembered the gasp when Lucy Sliced the phantasmal Shard.
"Of course. And before that too. I was following since you lost healer and archer."
"That's a lot of effort to spend on a low level party. What is it you want from us?"
"You are good party. Strong. And you have secrets. Much bigger secrets than I thought when I started to follow. I want in."
“And I assume that if we refuse you’ll spill everything you’ve seen for anyone who would listen?” Ingrid asked sourly.
“Only idiot would try to blackmail way into party,” the voice moved again, this time sounding from her left side. “Do I look like idiot to you?”
“We can’t actually see you,” Lucy answered, “but I’d be happy to answer ‘yes’ if you would come out and show us your face.”
The voice giggled, this time from directly above the party. “Already we are bantering like old friends, yes?”
“We are most definitely not old friends,” Ingrid practically growled, “and you still haven’t actually answered my question.”
“I will not breathe word of your secret, regardless of whether you let me join,” came a reply in a much more serious voice. “I have no wish to join party that resents me. That way lie daggers in back.”
“Then why should we let you join?”
“You are not so good at the sneaky. I am follow you for almost week, and if I wasn’t here, sneaky gremlins would possible have killed your friends.”
Ed reached up to place a calming hand on a growling Ingrid. “You might have a point there, but we could just as easily get a reveal, or even a true sight Shard.”
“Is not about Shard. Shard can help, but the sneaky comes from head, and your head? It is not the sneaky.”
“I like her,” Lucy stage whispered to Ed and Ingrid. “Can we keep her?”
“What are you talking about?” Ed asked, feeling Ingrid take a deep breath to try and calm down a little.
“I will give example. Your delve, it was streamed before, yes? Everyone knows you have strange summoning Shards, and they know you have goblin and kobold. Now you don’t have goblin and kobold, but your party has hobgoblin and kobold. I am only one to see this so far, but you don’t even consider that people will make connection. You do not have the sneaky thinking, yes?”
Ed stared mutely at the source of the voice, unable to think of a proper reply. Ingrid, on the other hand, swore up a storm as she lost all of her newly won calm.
“I will give you three time to think,” the voice said after a minute had passed. “If you want to accept offer, come to Pug. I will meet you there.”
Lucy stood in front of a pacing Ingrid, grabbed her arms and looked into her eyes. “Come down, love. We’re still in the delve, and it’s not safe.”
Ed walked over to the two. “She’s right. We need to get back to a safe place and talk about this.”
Not saying a word, a still growling Ingrid turned back towards the gauntlet, and then turned away and starting walking back towards the entrance.
◆◆◆
Ingrid was still upset when they got back to the Arctology, and as soon as the three entered her room, she grabbed Lucy and Ed and sank down into one of her beanbags, holding the two to her with an almost crushing force.
None of them spoke for fifteen long moments, and then Ingrid relaxed her grip a little. “We’re taking her up on her offer.”
“What?” Ed asked in surprise. “You seemed very firmly against her back in the Labyrinth.”
“I nearly lost you two back there. If she wasn’t stalking us, Lucy would be dead now.”
“Ed would have resummoned me if anything had happened.”
“You don’t know that, Luce. None of us knows what happens if you or I die, and I really don’t want to have to find out. And what if Ed had died? There were more than enough gremlins there to kill you both. And I wasn’t there to protect you.”
“It’s not your fault, Ing. We all agreed to send you forward to clear the path.”
“And that’s precisely the point. None of us thought to guard against a sneak attack while I wasn’t there. The two of you were even talking about splitting us further. We need someone who thinks about these things, and whoever it was out there, she fits the bill, she already knows our secrets, and she at least seems to want to be friendly.”
“You definitely have a point there. We could certainly use some who ‘good at the sneaky’. Luce?”
“Don’t look at me, love. I already said I want to keep her.”
“We’re agreed then,” Ingrid stated. “We should get to the Pug and tell her.”
“Not yet,” Ed said, reaching up to grab one of Lucy’s horns, and pulled her in for a kiss. “You weren’t the only one scared out there, Ing.”
◆◆◆
It was a couple of hours later that the three set off towards the Drunken Pug to meet their new team mate.
Mustafa, the bouncer, raised his prodigious eyebrows as he saw them approaching the tavern, but kept on twirling his mustache and said nothing when they entered. Sveta, who was manning the evening shift behind the bar, gave her standard greeting when they came close enough to be heard in the crowded common room. “Grog, grub or group?”
“We’re here to meet someone,” Ed answered. “But we’re not quite sure who.”
“Heard that one before,” the middle aged bard shrugged, pointed to a table that was mysteriously free in the otherwise overfull pub, and went back to cleaning a ceramic mug. “Grab a table, and hope whoever it is knows who you are. But you have to order dinner if you do. No freeloaders at dinner rush.”
The three sat down at the table, and a waitress quickly came over to take their dinner orders. Ed asked for a horned rabbit stew with roasted potatoes, Lucy ordered a large behemoth steak, served rare, and Ingrid got some Leviathan sushi rolls.
As soon as the waitress l
eft, a hooded woman approached their table. She was taller than Lucy, and Ed guessed she was about a head shorter than him. She sat down and pulled down her hood, revealing a pale face, medium length smooth brown hair and bright green eyes.
“My name Yekaterina Gregorovna. But you call me Katya, yes?”
"Nice to meet you face to face, Katya," Ed shook her hand. "You probably know our names already, right?"
"I know names, yes. Have you thought about offer?"
"We have, and we all agree that you have a point. I would like to hear more about your Shards and abilities before we decide though. All we know so far is that you have some stealth Shard and can throw a mean dagger."
"As wise man said, is important to know self and allies," Katya nodded. "I am Drab, and specialize in scouting."
"You're not drab," Lucy protested. "You have lovely eyes and hair!"
"Thank you, but is not what I mean. My class, it is Drab. Is like Bard, but in reverse."
"Your class is named 'Drab'?" Ed raised his eyebrows. "I've never heard of that class."
"Is not common. Most Bards, they are flashy, yes? All about attention and admiration. But Drab is Bard that wants to be in background. Hidden. Is hidden rank up, only shows if have both Bard class and Stealth skills."
"And what self-respecting Bard would ever use a Stealth Shard?" The conversation was interrupted by the appearance of food, carried not by their waiter but by Sveta, who placed the orders down in front of them, then placed her hands on her hips and turned to Katya. "What did I say about you coming to my common room?"
"Is my home and I am always welcome in it?" the young woman asked innocently.
"Aaaand?"
"I am to say hello to Babushka when I am come in, and not be like thief in night," came the contrite reply.
"Well then?"
"Hello, Babushka," Katya stood up and hugged the older bard, kissing her fondly on her cheek.
"Better. Now you can drop the accent and talk normally. You grew up in an English speaking house, in an English speaking city. There's no reason for you to be talking like you came from your grandfather's village."
"The King, he said 'the world's a stage, and each of us must play a part'. And my part, Babushka, it is in badly accented Russian, da?"
Sveta shook her head fondly. "Do what you will, Katyusha. I'll get some fried flying pig wings for you. I'd have had them ready with the rest of the food, but somebody came in invisible and forgot to actually order."
"You are best, Babushka," Katya said, and kissed Sveta on her cheek again, before dropping back to her chair. "Where were we?"
Ed just shook his head at the Drabs' antics. "You were telling us about your class."
"Right. As I said, I am Drab. Basic ability is to throw voice around so it comes from wherever I want. Is nice and confusing, and if I scouting ahead, I am speak directly to you from anywhere in floor, and things near me will not hear."
"That's very nice. Anything else you can do?"
"My class, it hides source of spells and attacks. I throw dagger, it appears to fly from opposite direction. I cast spell, it appears like different spell. Is all about misdirection."
"Nice. It's like a Rogue, but from a completely different direction," Ingrid said enthusiastically. "I have to ask though, why did you even take the Bard class if you wanted to go in this direction?"
"My Babushka, she is Bard, yes? Some would say, most famous Bard of all. She gave me Bard for my first Shard. And is not that I don't like the attention, yes? I really enjoyed looks on faces when I talk to you in Labyrinth earlier."
"That was quite the entrance," Lucy agreed.
"So that covers your class, and we know you're very good with a thrown dagger. What other Shards do you have?" Ed asked, trying to get the conversation back on track.
"I have Invisibility Shard, and Drab class lets me be completely silent when I want. I also have Pierce Shard, and Haste Shard, which I can cast on whole party with Bard skill, and have True Sight Shard."
"That's a very nice spread of skills," Ed smiled, and looked at Lucy and Ingrid, who nodded at him. "We're definitely interested in you joining."
"Is good to hear. I am getting cat, yes?"
"Let's not rush into things that aren't reversible," Ed cautioned. "Why don't we just delve together for a while first?"
"Carpe diem!" The drab stated, snagging a piece of baked potato from Ed's plate to punctuate her words. "But you are party leader, so caution is good."
"So we're delving together, with standard loot split, and we'll see how it goes from there and if we're even compatible as a party."
"We have agreement," Katya said and eyed Lucy's plate contemplatively, but raised her hands in surrender at Lucy's growl. Her own plate of a dip fried wing the size of a whole chicken arrived shortly after, and the drab busied herself with mixing precise amounts of barbeque sauce and habanero oil to dip her food in.
◆◆◆
A loud, insistent siren woke Ed up from sleep. The siren kept bleating during the long seconds it took Ed to disentangle himself from the half-awake Ingrid and Lucy, and persisted right up until he finally managed to grab the small wearable communication device given to him by the arms master's aide. Thumbing the 'receive' button, Ed caught the trail end of an announcement.
"…port to the guardhouse. I repeat, a horde has been seen approaching Antarctology. All battle ready armsmen with floor eleven access are to report to the portal room immediately. All others are to report to the guardhouse. I repeat…"
Ed pressed the proper button to acknowledge that he'd received the message, but a sleepy Lucy fumbled her own communicator, and the looping announcement still sounded from beneath the bed until she managed to grab it and acknowledge.
Ed started to get dressed while Ingrid, still naked, left the bedroom, coming back a couple of minutes later with a cup of instant coffee which she handed to Lucy. Slightly more awake now, Lucy managed to get dressed too, and left towards the guardhouse with Ed while Ingrid dressed and went to look for her mother or one of her uncles.
The guardhouse was nearly empty. In addition to Ed and Lucy, the arms master and her aide were there, as well as four other house Bjørnson armsmen. Two of the armsmen looked as new as Ed and Lucy. The first, a human wearing leather armor with an arming sword hanging from her hip, looked even younger than Ed, and appeared nervous at what must have been her first all-hands emergency. The second's age was harder to gauge, since his Dwarf Classshard came complete with a long bushy beard. He wore plain looking chainmail and had an axe slung across his back.
The other two armsmen were clearly more experienced, but were all recuperating from what looked like major injuries.
A beautiful greater naga wearing delicate looking silvery armor that Ed guessed was made of mithril had four hatchets hanging from her belt, each one made of a different metal, and each with a different gemstone on the base of its handle. She wouldn't be using all four in whatever conflict was coming, however, as two of her hands were bandaged and resting in slings, and she winced with pain every time they were jostled.
A two meter tall androyad stood next to the naga, bandages covering half of his head. Brown bark-like skin covered the tall male nymph, and a shillelagh rested on his shoulder.
"I am so glad you've decided to join us, Mister Fergusson and Miss Bradshaw," the three armed mantis said acerbically, and then checked something on a folding computer screen that came out of her artificial arm. "This appears to be everyone. As you know from the announcement, a monster horde is approaching our in-Labyrinth installation. For the newcomers among you, the Labyrinth hates it when a group of more than five people share the same location, and it repeatedly tries to expel it. Since we keep twenty people in the installation on average, monster attacks are common. The active security is generally enough to handle things, but on occasion a monster horde appears that requires us to reinforce them. Naturally, the fact that we must reinforce the Antarctology leaves this facility undermann
ed, but security must still be maintained. Owens, Dariush, you'll be manning the front gate, since you two are the only ones actually familiar with our protocols. Smith and Abramson, you two have the north guard tower. Bradshaw, you and Fergusson take the south tower. Mister Fergusson, I should not have to remind you that summoning monsters inside the bazaar is forbidden. You will have to employ whatever other skills you have in the highly unlikely case that the Arctology comes under attack. Dismissed."
The Arctology was built on the western edge of the bazaar. As the nature of the bazaar was in constant flux, the western wall of the Bjørnson's fortress could be set against the wall of a cave, a surging river or an endless drop, depending on whatever theme the bazaar itself adopted at any given moment. The one constant was that the edge of the bazaar was impassable. A wall would be impossible to breach. A river would be full of monsters deadly even to a tier six delver. A sheer drop would cancel all flight skills and technology, dropping the would be attacker to their death.
The Arctology itself was a built in a half circle, with the flat edge running against the end of the bazaar, and the gate set in the middle of the arc. To each side of the gate and a quarter of the way from the gate to the corners were set two tall towers which were usually manned by a pair of armsmen.
As soon as the all hands emergency call had sounded, one of the armsmen from each tower ran towards the portal to the Labyrinth, leaving the other to keep watch. Ed and Lucy ran towards the southern tower, reaching it shortly after being dismissed from the guardhouse, and relieved the single armsman still waiting.
The top of the tower contained a single chair, a communicator capable of reaching the floor eleven installation and a large screen showing a night vision image of the surrounding, with a control stick under it to control the camera (and the large auto-loading ballista waiting above the tower's roof).