Auger & Augment

by Wilson A Bateman

  Huth'Ga sat at the head of the hut, enormous and fierce, and clearly not interested in indulging my funny bone. Arrayed at her sides were four others. Directly to her left sat the mage who had worked the Dark Vision spell the night before, and to her right sat what I realized was the first orc man I’d seen “in the wild.” He was noticeably smaller than the women around him, also bald, and wearing an odd hat that covered his ears and the back of his neck. When he noticed me looking, he quickly lowered his eyes.

  A guard yanking me to my knees brought me back to what I was supposed to be doing. Much of what we’d planned depended on Me’Almah‘s sense of dramatic timing, but I had my role to play. I bowed my head, closed my eyes, and did my work.

  Huth'Ga rose and stood before us, looking grim. “Me’Almah, Katz, Slynx, Varba, Namara, and Zenzuck. You are bound to me both in life,” she removed the cynosure from her belt and made a show of gripping it in her huge hand, “and in death. Freedom is beyond your grasp and escape is impossible. And yet,” she grimaced, but lost none of her intensity, “I do not wish you needless harm. The task for which I’ve procured you will bring ample pain in its own right, but it is a task that I must see done.”

  She paused to gather her thoughts before proceeding. “As you have seen, my village is in great danger. Vitality is made to bleed from everything that draws near it, and thus from everything we hold dear. There is a temple of sorts at the base of my village that appears to be at the heart of this grey, and we believe that you players might be able to clear it and allow us to search for its source. We know of your undying nature, and I cannot risk the lives of more of my people.” Huth'Ga gazed at each of us in turn, but didn’t seem comforted by the sight. “I hope for your sake and ours that you live up to the prophecies. The curse that is now upon you will be lifted as you set your hands to your task, but I will be ever-watchful and ready to bring each of you low should you threaten my people.”

  In one fluid motion, Me’Almah broke free of her shackles and stood tall, nearly eye to eye with Huth'Ga. Taken by surprise, the guards scrambled to lower their spears at her, but she ignored them and kept her gaze locked to Huth'Ga’s. From the chairs behind Huth'Ga came several growls of warning, which Me’Almah also ignored. Huth'Ga simply fixed Me’Almah with a steely gaze.

  “Great Sister!” Me’Almah intoned earnestly, using the address we’d overheard from Huth’Ga’s warriors. She held her palms out to the orc leader. “Truly we bear you no ill will. We have seen that your village suffers as mana is drained from it, and wish only to aid you.”

  The rest of us took this as our cue to stand, and the room filled with the clatter of falling shackles and loose chains. The guards that had been surrounding us rushed to form a line between the party and Huth'Ga, and soon we were facing a bristling field of spears, flanked by the bared tusks of the orc women.

  Me’Almah stood stock still, and we each tried to copy her confident but non-threatening stance, although I no longer bothered hiding the mist spilling out from my eyes.

  “Sister!” Me’Almah pleaded. “Please! I do not know what you have heard of players, but many of us have traveled here in hopes of finding just such tasks as you have given us—chances to help others and to grow in strength.”

  With that, she knelt again, brushing at the spears that followed her down as though they were flies. Her hand passed through the weapons as if they were air, leaving nothing but a swirl of too-light dust behind. Perhaps the weapons had started out at Good Quality, but the constant mana drain had reduced their Quality enough for me to do my work. Gasps and snarls filled the room, and more than one guard shied away from us, though we made no other aggressive move. We had aimed to come across as powerful, mysterious, and benevolent, but by the response, I worried we had overshot. Guards were reaching for new weapons, and I didn’t think I could disintegrate them all.

  Still, Huth'Ga remained stoic, and so no one attacked. Me’Almah spoke into the tense silence one last time, her accustomed calm serving her well. “If it will please you, Sister, we will accept the terms you have given us; however, our hope is that our bond may be one of service rather than of servitude, and that we may have the chance to gain your trust.” Wow, good show, Me’Almah! I thought.

  The guards did their best to watch us and Huth'Ga simultaneously, waiting for orders on how to respond. For her part, Huth'Ga stayed focused on Me’Almah. Finally, she spoke. “This is the strange magic Mjorn tried to sell me, then, Player Zenzuck?” Surprised at being addressed, I released Ether. Man, she was observant! She took my expression as confirmation and nodded. Her face grew stormy. “We know the Grey here. You think to frighten us, but we have lived with its curse for years now. You offer your aid, but come to us bearing the very power that has destroyed my village!” Her anger seemed to grow with every word until she was bellowing, and the guards around me tightened their grips on their spears. Collapsing beneath the weight of her anger, I threw my hands up between us.

  “I’m sorry! I’m sorry!” I cried. “I can see it, but I didn’t do it! The mana is all flowing to the same place. It’s all getting sucked out!”

  Huth'Ga glared down at me over the guards’ spear tips, her nostrils flaring.

  “Me’Almah’s right, we just want to help! We just want to…” I trailed off, terrified of what might come next.

  Huth'Ga’s expression didn’t soften, but her gaze became distant. I realized she must be examining a UI. My UI. Well, there was no hiding it now. I might as well be helpful.

  “My Ether spell tree is in the center, between the rest. It’s hard to see, but it’s the only tree that seems to function normally for me. I have two spells—”

  “Quiet!” Huth'Ga barked. Moments passed, and then she turned and called behind her to the mage. “Mother, look at these. Is this true?” She threw me a threatening glance, and I share the requested info.. The older woman moved from her chair to stand beside Huth'Ga, then took on the same distant gaze, followed by a sharp intake of breath as she examined my spells.

  “With these he could… Daughter! He could dissolve the entire building—the entire village as it stands now! These spells could be the end of Hearthstead! With this boy here we are balanced on a knife’s edge!”

  Huth'Ga’s gaze refocused, and she considered me carefully. “That was my thought. He could do any of those things, but he would need time. If we were to slit his throat now, we could have done with it. We could give them back to Kalsip.” My hand slipped involuntarily to my throat, and I swallowed convulsively. Always with the throat! Huth'Ga bared her teeth savagely, and continued. “Even so, he claims to see the source of the curse—or the path to it—and he brings us knowledge of the curse that years of study have failed to uncover. If he speaks truly, this Ether spell would see such a thing possible.”

  She drew in a deep breath. “To my eye, had destruction been his goal, he had the time for it during the night. Hearthstead could lie in ruin, and our weapons could be dust. That being said, either he speaks true, or he is an imbecile. And though he lacks a spine, I see no evidence of the latter.” She fixed me with a critical gaze. “Yet.”

  The Dark mage nodded in assent. “Sound reasoning, but pray be careful! I have never seen magic such as this.”

  “Believe me, I will not take my eyes off him. As for you, Sister," she addressed Me’Almah. “Rise. You will have the chance to prove your words. The Mayor’s Curse will remain in effect until we reach the cave, at which point you will need all your strength and more.”

  Me’Almah paused, her eyes becoming distant, and the other players followed suit before returning to the present. The orcs seemed to take it as a matter of course, but it chafed to realize the others were all interacting with a quest that was denied to me.

  Me’Almah bowed low. “Thank you, Kind Sister. You honor us with your trust.”

  Huth'Ga snorted derisively. “This is not trust, this is necessity. Now let’s get moving. Commander?”

  One of the better-armored guards
raised her spear and began issuing orders, before directing Katz, the gnome, to follow her. Two guards joined her in marching him out the door of the hut. A little concerned, I reminded myself that if they had wanted to hurt us, doing it here would have been easy enough. Ten minutes later they returned, first for Slynx, then for Varba. Huth'Ga and Hen’Darl spent the intervening time questioning us, first about my spells, then about players in general. They knew a surprising amount already: that we came from a different world, that we had given up our belongings to be there, etc. They seemed mostly curious about our world and why exactly we had chosen to leave it. I spun a reason out of wanting the freedom to set my own path that sounded plausible enough, but standing in front of the implacable women, in the middle of their disintegrating village, my true reason for being there boiled down to cowardice. Huth'Ga’s words about not having a spine rang in my head.

  Mac’s response was similar to mine, about wanting to live life on her own terms. Me’Almah’s answer was more of a surprise. “This is my family," she said simply. Huth'Ga nodded her respect at the sentiment.

  And then Mac was gone, and then Me’Almah, and finally it was my turn. Both Huth'Ga and Hen’Darl accompanied the guards escorting me as we left the building and moved along the top tier of the bluff to a square hut of stacked stone, set against the rock. The commander ducked inside and ordered me to follow her. Doing so, I found myself in the vestibule of a large, well-lit cave that had the look of a very dour dragon’s hoard. Littered in piles throughout the cave was almost every type of armor imaginable, all of it devoid of color. It looked like stacks of 3D models no one had bothered to texture.

  Huth'Ga entered the room behind me. “The people who once called Hearthstead home left these, and we scarcely have use for them. Should you find anything useful, you may take it to the cave. You have until my patience runs out.”

  I looked hopelessly over the piles. Most of it was junk, so how would I find anything worthwhile?

  Turning to Huth'Ga, I explained what I wanted to do. She simply eased the dagger at her hip in its sheath and then nodded. I cast Ether.

  The room came awash with movement, each piece of gear charged with a distinct flow of mana at a distinct strength. I wanted to find the most mana-dense objects, since that seemed to be a good shorthand for higher quality, but the jumble of movement just made matters worse. Closing my eyes, I felt for the objects instead.

  Running my ethereal form through the first pile, I found that my assumption was correct. It was like digging your hand through a bucket of sand in search of a rock. Making my way through the room, I pulled an item off the top of one pile, dug an item out of another, and started a pile of my own. The orcs watched, fascinated, as the more high-Quality items began to stack up in front of them. Huth'Ga even seemed to have a little more patience for someone who made the sorting task so easy. Over the course of maybe fifteen minutes, I managed to gather 2-3 dozen items that, though washed of color and low on durability, were still fairly impressive once Huth'Ga shared their information with me. Quickly, I sifted through the items for pieces I could use. I was after any rings, necklaces, or cloth armor I could find, as well as any wands or staves—and they had to be available to my level. In the end, there was only a single ring and a colorless pair of pants for armor. There was a staff I lusted after for a bit, but it was too high a level for me, so I set it aside. I grabbed a long dagger instead, to replace the one Mjorn had reclaimed.

  Mage’s Ring — 3/30

  A staple for spellcasters.

  +3 Wisdom

  +2 Intellect

  Cotton Pants of Simple Wit — 4/26

  Don’t these look smart? So can you!

  +2 Intellect

  Iron Baselard — 2/45

  Easy to conceal, this might be useful for any number of dastardly deeds.

  +3-5 to Attack

  Once I had the gear equipped—aside from the pants, which would have to wait—I gave Huth'Ga the all clear.

  “Hold a moment," she said, then turned to discuss with the commander before they both moved to my pile of cast-offs and began to work their way through. In the meantime, I made one last scan of the room and found two items I’d overlooked. After moving to retrieve them, I added the last piece to the pile. I didn’t need a sword. Huth'Ga and the commander watched flatly as I approached with the blade, so I set it down slowly, dismissing Ether as well.

  The penultimate item I’d found was an odd fingerless glove with a metal plate on the back. Maybe glove isn’t even the right word, since the contraption had no palm, just finger holes and a wrist strap made of leather; the back side was stamped with whorls that reminded me of mana.

  Luctus’ Augment — 95/100

  The right-hand tool of the Great Sage Luctus, now in pieces.

  +1 to Ether

  Not quite believing my luck, I fumbled with the buckle at my wrist. Items that increase the rank of spells or skills can be extremely valuable, and finding one seemingly made for my broken character was an act of God. The orcs were just finishing their survey of the pile as I cinched the strap.

  Huth'Ga looked up from the gear to me. “Mage,” she said, “you have your opportunity to prove your words. Lead us to the source of the curse.”

  With the orc women keeping careful watch, I activated Ether again.

  I hadn’t anticipated the effect that just one more rank would have. It wasn’t anything like the ones before it, which had only sharpened the view.

  Where I had become used to the torrent of movement that infused everything, the motion that now filled my view was structured and elegant. What had seemed before to be a jumble became a sea of patterns, interlocking, overlapping, and building to greater patterns still. Some of this had been hinted at during my work with Enchanting, but now those patterns that had taken me hours of study to fully grasp had become clear and distinct, turning loose piles of junk into delicate and beautiful pieces of art.

  Looking at my own gear, I could see patterns repeated in both the two rings and in the pants. I could taste the flavor of what I now knew to be the Intellect enchantments, interlocking with the other enchantments bound to the items and to the mana inherent to the items themselves.

  I pulled up my Spells tab to confirm the change.

  Ether IV (+1 from Items)

  ...

  Admittedly, my first thought was a greedy one. I could have this on all my gear! With Ether active, I examined the piece, seeing the pattern of it as a whole. When I began to dive in, however, the pattern broke into a nest of interweaving subpatterns, and then those broke into still more. Forms within forms to a level so deep I couldn’t even remember where I’d started. It was like getting lost inside the gears of a clock.

  “Did one of my warriors slip you a dreamcap, mage? Or do pretty things impress you so? Men do like pretty things,” Huth'Ga growled impatiently, “but I did not bring you here to admire jewelry!”

  Realizing that I had been staring at my hand held aloft in front of me, I quickly dropped it and blushed.

  “Sorry, it…” I stuttered, before remembering Mac’s advice on apologizing. “Here we go.”

  Gazing around the room, I could now easily pick out which flows of mana belonged to items and which were part of the ambiance. It didn’t much matter though, because the mana was moving steadily in one direction. The mana bound to items resisted, but was being pulled away thread by thread nonetheless. I pointed. “There!” I said. “It’s stronger here than it was in the forest.” Realizing that I was pointing to the floor at the back of the cave, I glanced at Huth'Ga, concerned I hadn’t provided sufficient evidence. She exchanged looks with Hen’Darl, who simply grunted and made her way out of the disordered armory, trailing her robes behind her.

  Huth'Ga huffed in agreement, then deposited the items she’d picked into a guard’s waiting arms. “Release your spell," she commanded, before following Hen’Darl’s lead. The women led the way back down the cliff face until we had again reached ground level, then the
y made their way past the cave that had housed us the previous night and on to a large opening that didn’t have the look of a cave about it at all.

  We passed through a wide doorway lined with blocks of stone, and filed into a spacious room lit only by what light made it through the doorway with us. Seeing Mac and the others, I quickly moved to join them, noting the haphazard upgrades they’d been able to make to their wardrobes. Huth'Ga approached them as well, wordlessly distributing the additional pieces she’d selected from those I’d found. With permission, Varba cast, then sent the globe of light she’d created up to the ceiling. The group dealt with the additional buckles and belts required for the new equipment. I slipped behind them all to furtively don my new pants.

  Once Huth'Ga saw that we were ready, she gave a sharp order. Hen’Darl chanted a few quick syllables that turned my vision grayscale, and Varba dismissed her light as it became blindingly bright. Dark Vision. The guards took up posts by the entrance, while Huth'Ga and Hen’Darl directed us through a doorway at the back of the antechamber. As I passed through, I couldn’t help but jump. Letters floated into view in front of me, before solidifying to welcome me into my first dungeon.

  MARAMI’S END

  Chapter 19

  We gathered just past the entrance, not daring to move out of the circle of light from the doorway and into the pregnant black, which was slowly resolving into grayscale as our eyes adjusted. Mac’s voice was loud in the oppressive silence as she muttered to herself. “Okay, now how do we group up?”