by C. M. Carney
“Stand back,” Vonn said in a shaky voice, wild eyes staring at Lex “I'll need extra space.” Gryph expanded the air shield outwards, knowing the increased surface area would allow more water and more pressure to press down on the shield’s surface, reducing the time it would last before it collapsed. The others stepped back, pushing themselves up against the shield wall.
Vonn turned and began to shudder and shimmer as if a dozen versions of himself were jostling for the same space. He thrummed, moving so fast that visual echoes of himself pulsed in and out of the host Vonn. A dozen pairs of hands moved along the wall and the cascade of fractal patterns began anew.
For a time Gryph could follow and process the shapes and their movements, but soon the shapes defied logic. Fractals swirled outwards as Vonn’s multiple apparition like arms expanded in a halo. It reminded Gryph of the multi-armed gods of Hinduism, as Vonn expanded and contracted within himself.
The Vonns drew their arms back and the cacophony of shapes coalesced back into a single point, before expanding again. Gryph could not be sure, but it appeared that part of the wall folded in upon itself. Vonn pushed forward and the wall moved inwards a few inches to the tinkling and grinding of crystal.
Vonn grunted and another expansion of spectral arms flowed outwards like the fan of a peacock. More intricate patterns morphed and pulsed, folding in upon themselves before expanding outwards again. The motions grew in intensity and Gryph had to turn away, his stomach churning and his head pounding.
Behind him he heard Lex vomit and above him he saw the air shield shimmer. He opened the shield's status window and grimaced. Even at the expanded size the shield should have held out long enough for the ring’s cooldown time to elapse, but something was draining the shield’s health much quicker than expected.
Gryph returned his gaze to Vonn and had his answer. Subtle waves of force were expanding from the vibrating collection of Vonns and impacting the underside of the shield. The drain was slow, but constant and if Gryph’s quick and dirty math was right, the shield would fail in a little over a minute, long before the cooldown had elapsed allowing him to use the ring again.
“Errat can your aether shield bolster my air shield?”
“Errat will cast.” The warborn held his hands about and gray energy flowed around them. A bubble of aetherial energy pulsed upwards under the air shield and then flashed and rippled. The wave of gray energy rebounded down and into Errat. The spell failed and the warborn grunted in pain as raw mana punched into his body. A shock that felt like a taser hit Gryph. His health dipped by a few points, but then the shock faded.
Lex’s shared Analyze told them the warborn’s health had dropped by a third and he suffered from a mana debuff. Vonn had lost a dozen times the health Gryph had, but grunted, forcing himself to focus through the pain.
Can we not do that again please, he sent. This is hard enough as it is.
“What the hell was that?” Lex roared, helping Errat to his feet. His hands moving in the familiar patterns used to cast Minor Healing.
Gryph grabbed his hand to arrest the casting. “Nobody cast another spell,” Gryph warned.
“I concur," Ovrym said. “Whatever Vonn is doing it seems to disrupt the normal workings of magic.”
The disruption is not my doing, Vonn sent. The tower is emitting an anti-magic field, fighting back against my attack. It has increased in intensity with every layer I’ve folded.
The news went from bad to worse when Gryph discovered the feedback from Errat’s spell had taken another chunk of the air shield’s remaining health. The shield would last another 30 seconds before dropping tons of water on top of them.
“We have less than half a minute before this thing fails. Ideas?” Gryph looked from one face to another.
“I vote that Vonn should hurry,” Lex said.
Not helping, Vonn sent with a grunt. He pushed forward, and the wall rippled, folded and expanded. It rushed back into another singularity and Vonn pushed again. The wall moved in upon itself again, and Gryph thought he could see the dim outline of a room through the thin layer of crystal.
“He’s close,” Gryph said.
“Not close enough,” Ovrym said.
It was not for a lack of trying however as Gryph was sure the pace of Vonn’s movements had increased. Gryph’s mental countdown was down to ten and his heart sank. He would respawn back in Dar Thoriim, but none of his friends would survive the onslaught of water that would pummel them as hard as an oncoming freight train. Lex would live for a few more seconds longer because of the magic in his Ring of Death’s Door. It would stabilize him at a paltry one point of health, just enough to let him die by drowning.
Some gift you gave there, he thought.
He opened his mouth to say he was sorry when a thought occurred to him. Lex’s ring wasn’t the only magical item he’d given his friends. A desperate plan formed in Gryph’s mind and he shared it with the others. A slight surge of hope pushed through the link as Errat grabbed the amulet hanging from his neck and tossed it upwards. A second later gray light flared from the amulet and Gryph’s air shield collapsed.
52
Gryph felt, as much as saw, the collective cringe move through the group as the weight of several million gallons of water fell several feet. It crashed with a cacophonous thud into the shimmering field of gray energy milliseconds before the smoking amulet landed in the soft wet dirt of the lake bottom. The pools of water on the ground sizzled under the onslaught of the near-molten metal, and the closed eye carved into its surface shimmered as if alive.
The aetherial shield held under the onslaught of the kinetic pounding, but the whorls of light pulsing through the globe of gray energy hinted that the field would not last long. Gryph looked to Errat to see if his theory had proven true. The warborn gave him a worried grin and turned his attention back to the dome of water hanging barely a foot above them.
Errat’s original casting of Aether Shield had backfired on him because he had been the source of the spell, a spell that failed because of the anti-magic field put off by the tower. When all that mana had rebounded on him he’d lost concentration. That lost concentration led to spell failure. Spell failure led to a mana feedback debuff.
Gryph’s desperate hope that the amulet could ignore the feedback and complete the spell had, apparently, been accurate. Though the full brunt of the mana had still pummeled the magic item, perhaps beyond repair. A small price to pay for all our lives, Gryph thought.
He turned to Vonn. The half-elf collapsed to one knee, and the pace of his furious movements slowed. Despite the potions he’d downed Vonn’s stamina was bottoming out. What happens if it does before he completes whatever mathematical wizardry he’s performing?
Vonn grunted as a last layer of impossibly complicated shapes folded back and into themselves. He shimmered and drew his echoes back into his body, and with the last of his might, he pushed forward. The last manifold of the crystalline wall moved forward and peeled back upon itself, revealing a way into the tower.
Vonn collapsed and fell into unconsciousness.
“Go!” Gryph yelled, and as one the rest of the Adventure Party rushed through the opening. Errat and Ovrym grabbed Vonn under his arms and pulled him through the opening. Sean leapt through, right on their heels. Last came Gryph and Lex, but Lex slipped, his foot finding little purchase in the muddy ground.
Gryph landed inside the tower. Lex fell face first onto the hard floor. A second later he screamed. Gryph spun to find the NPC’s boot stuck inside the reformed wall of crystal. Gryph reached back, grabbed Lex by the belt and tugged.
Lex screamed again as the crystal flowed up the edges of his boot, threatening to envelop his entire leg. Then Errat was there and helped Gryph pull Lex free. Lex wrenched his leg back, pulling his foot from the boot. The flowing crystal stopped its advance and most of the boot fell to the floor with a leathery thwack. A portion of the boot remained inside the wall, floating beneath the surface as the liquid cryst
al froze solid.
Lex’s scream turned to a pathetic blubbering, and he pointed a shaking finger at his foot. He wiggled his toes. The majority of his big toe was missing. It had not been cut or pulled off, for there was no blood, and the skin around the small nub had the appearance of an old amputation.
“Ahhhhh! That fucking wall ate my damn toe!” Lex yelled.
Errat knelt next to the wall and pointed. “Friend Lex is right. I see his toe there.” The last knuckle of Lex's toe hovered in the crystal like a fly in amber.
“Ahhhhh!” Lex yelled again.
“Would you mind keeping the unnecessary screaming to a minimum,” Vonn said. “Your old lady cackling is splitting my skull open.”
Gryph, Ovrym and Errat rushed to the half-elf’s side. Vonn assured them he was okay. He just needed time to recover. Gryph handed him a full wineskin and Vonn nodded his thanks, gripped the skin in shaking hands and took a large swig.
“But, my toe,” Lex whined.
“It’s barely a flesh wound.” Vonn coughed and grimaced at the pain it sent through his head. “My mind was nearly splintered, so I'd appreciate a little peace and quiet.”
Lex looked to Vonn and realized just how pale his friend was, just how much sweat shined his face. He shook like a man suffering from palsy and could barely lift his own head. “Sorry man.” Lex hung his head. “Thanks for saving our asses back there.”
“You’re welcome.”
The rogue took another deep pull from the wineskin.
“You summoned more of your duplicates didn’t you?” Gryph asked.
“Not exactly, but it is a similar technique. Where my Dimensional Duplicate ability allows me to pull other versions of myself into this Realm, what you saw allows me to harness the mental abilities of several of my other selves. They call it Mind Expansion and it allows me to expand my intelligence exponentially by drawing the intellect of the other versions into my mind. It costs a staggering amount of stamina and can be dangerous.”
“You chugged Stamina Potions like sorority chicks slamming Washington apple shots. I’m impressed.”
“I guarantee I am paying a higher price than your chicks.” Vonn held his head as Errat helped him to his feet.
“Depends on who you wake up next to in the morning,” Sean said, raising his eyebrows knowingly at Lex.
Vonn shook his head in bewilderment and the rush of pain and nausea made him regret it. He shared his debuff window.
DeBuff Added - Stamina Poisoning.
You have ingested an excessive amount of Stamina Potions in too short a time and are now afflicted with Stamina Potion Poisoning. For the next hour you will regenerate your Stamina at 10% of your normal rate. This rate will increase by 10% per hour until your max Stamina is reached. Health, mana and spirit regeneration are also reduced by 50% until your Stamina returns to 100%.
Stamina poisoning will remain dormant in your system for the next 24 hours. Any Stamina Potions drank during that time will set your regeneration rate back to 10% and the 24-hour clock back to zero.
“Dude, that is one potent hangover.”
Reassured that Vonn would be fine, Gryph turned his attention to their surroundings. They were in a large room the size and shape of old Earth theaters. It reminded him of a childhood visit to Radio City Music Hall with Brynn and their mother. A warm sadness filled him. I’m coming Brynn.
The walls, ceiling and floor were made of the same crystalline material as the outer walls. Old, yet solid, wooden crates filled a good portion of the room and a single door lay in the opposite wall.
A dim, comfortable glow permeated the entire room and Gryph had difficulty determining the source. The light seemed to just be. While Lex kept an eye on Vonn, Sean, Errat and Ovrym searched the boxes for anything useful.
As Gryph walked towards the door, a sensation of oddness filled him. He stopped, turned and looked around the room. The room’s shaped suggested that it took up one quarter of the tower’s base. The hairs on his neck rose as he got close to the door. He felt as if he were being watched and he looked to the left and the right but saw nothing. It was only when he looked back at his compatriots did he realize why the world was wrong.
“This room is too big,” Gryph said.
“That’s a little judgmental man,” Lex said. “Just cuz you used to live like a broke bachelor doesn’t mean folks with more means shouldn’t live it up a little.”
“Not what I mean,” Gryph said.
“Your instincts are right,” Vonn said, still leaning on Lex. “The space we are in is larger than the outside dimensions of the tower could contain.”
“That makes no sense,” Lex said, but the doubt on his face disappeared as he looked around.
“Because you’re suddenly an expert on intra-dimensional spatial geometry?” Vonn asked.
“I’m a famous Lexicon, I'm probably an expert on lotsa stuff I don’t know I know.”
“Said with great wisdom and aplomb,” Ovrym said.
Lex tossed a thumb over his shoulder at Sean. “It’s only cuz of this guy that I’m so dumb.”
“Father taught Errat not to blame others for one’s own deficiencies.” Lex scowled at the warborn and muttered under his breath.
“Right,” Sean said. “You don’t know what I had to work with, guy.” Without warning Sean stumbled and nearly fell. Only Errat’s quick reaction saved the player from face planting the floor.
“Are you okay, friend Sean?”
“I…,” Sean ran his hands over his body as if checking that all his parts remained intact. “Something touched me … at the core of my being. Something malevolent.”
Errat’s eyes went wide, and he hovered a hand over Sean. Then he turned towards the door. “Friend Gryph, be on guard. An entity has reached through the aether and touched friend Sean. I have blocked it, but I fear not in time. Something is coming.”
Gryph’s eyes flashed to Sean who nodded and said he was fine. “Let’s hope whatever that was, it has a harder time breaking into this tower than we did.”
Gryph nodded and turned his attention to the door, a calming sensation flowing through him. He placed a hand, palm out, over a circular impression on the surface of the door. Latent energy coursed through the crystal, and he moved his hand closer when something stopped him.
Gryph willed his hand forward and pressed it against the circle. Two arcs of white light flared upwards from the bottom of the circle and met at the top. When they did, the door flowed open with a rush of air.
On the other side stood a man-like figure made of lighting and metallic crystal. The creature looked like a surge of electricity had animated parts of a suit of armor. Bracers, gloves and greaves of a shimmering metallic glass covered the hands and feet. A blue-white cuirass bearing an arrow-like sigil gave substance to the creature’s core. Its face was a blank mask that portrayed no emotional resonance, but the sparks of power that gazed from its eyes bore a deep intelligence. Connecting all the physical parts, were streams of electrical pulses that resembled a human nervous system illuminated from within by blue-white torrents of energy.
Before Gryph could react, the creature lashed out and pummeled him in the chest with the palm of its hand. Shocking power thrummed though every nerve in Gryph’s body seizing all of his muscles as it pushed him backwards. He flew across the room, knocking Sean and Vonn off their feet. All three men tumbled to the floor, grunting in pain.
Debuff Added: Paralyzed.
You have been hit by a powerful blast of Order Magic and are now paralyzed.
Cooldown: 5 minutes.
Five minutes, Gryph thought in alarm as his body seized. Gryph had the merest of moments to realize he suffered from the paralysis debuff before the creature spoke in a voice both melodic and fierce.
“Interlopers. Your presence is invalid. Leave or face discontinuation.”
53
The Scourge walked on light feet into the town of Harlan’s Watch. As he moved, he drew memories forth from the ne
west member of the quintessence. Tarl exposed the Vex’s plan. They had come to Harlan’s Watch to destroy the tower, to usher in a new era of chaos, but their attempts to breach the Order Lance’s protections had been frustrated. From deep within, Tarl screamed that tonight the Realms would change.
The Scourge did not care what their plans were as long as they did not threaten his mandate. Any who got in his way would join the Scourge or die. He closed his eyes and sniffed the air through wide nostrils, seeking the Maker. It was more affect than requirement as scent had nothing to do with how the Scourge tracked his quarry. Yet the deep inhalations calmed the current host body.
The Scourge called on a soul. In life the sentience that emerged from the deep ocean of voices had been an orc, one of the Raal Zanaag, a once proud race long ago fallen to disgrace. Unlike the wretched creatures of today, this orc had once been a deadly tracker and illurryth hunter. It was this ability that had led the Scourge to Harlan’s Watch.
The Scourge reached through the aether, parting ripples and delving through flows and then he felt the Maker. He is in the tower. A rumble of voices returned his thought. Tower, tOwer, T-O-W-E-R, toweR, ToWeR. The Scourge pushed deeper, twining fingers pushing through the aether, seeking, sensing. A burning pain built behind his eyes with such suddenness that an involuntary gasp passed through lips that had long ago learned to ignore physical discomfort.
The Scourge opened his eyes and grimaced at the shard of white crystal. Something had pushed him out, creating a hole in the aether where he could no longer see. A small smile turned up the corner of his mouth. The Scourge no longer felt emotions as others did, but some remnant of an old life came to the fore bringing with it a need for revenge, a chance to earn penance from the one who’d sealed the aether from him.