Luca DR
patreon
Edge 131
🕑 Added 2023-10-19 11:24:07 +0000 UTC131 – Clever manipulation
The city quickly turned into a prison for Albert, at least in his mind. It was fascinating to see how quickly his mood could change given the different circumstances, and although he had the Power to leave if he wanted, it wasn’t worth the risk. As such, the walls he was walking towards were tall and ominous, the dark stone washed by the incessant frigid rain was slippery and covered in muck. What few torches still burned in the rain created thick, black smoke that trailed up in the air, partially hiding the shadows of the patrolling guards on the top of the wall.
“Why are they putting non-mages around the field?” Scrappy asked, still thinking about what was happening outside of the emptying city.
Albert inhaled. “I can see only two reasons, each worse than the other. They are either there to be a meat shield, or as an experiment.” He paused, and what he muttered next was directed to no-one, said only for himself. “The world is falling apart at the seams. I could stave off the end for a while or two but… why would I? This place is hardly worth saving.”
Scrappy frowned. “Experiment? Why would they experiment on people?”
“Perhaps someone wants to see what happens when a non-mage, with no defenses against magic, is exposed to truly dangerous amounts of it. Barbaric. I admit I am curious myself, though, but the act… it’s inexcusable.”
They walked close to the walls. Whenever they spotted a gate, they noticed that it was heavily guarded and the flow was strictly regulated. Not that there was much flow. Those who could had already left the city, and those who couldn’t were either outside waiting for the battle or holed up in their homes.
The secondary access points to the city were all barred and closed shut, some even welded so that nobody could enter the city undetected. The city could not spare the guards, but they made sure the city was as safe as they could make it. Nonetheless, shadows moved, and it was impossible to tell whether they were sentries patrolling Bastion, or enemy spies and assassins lurking.
Albert didn’t care. He was merely searching for a way out, knowing that time was not on his side. He could smuggle the two of them out with some risk, but with Scrappy as weak as she was, he wanted to minimize the risk as much as possible. Which, considering that the atmosphere in the city was getting tenser by the second, didn’t seem quite so easy to do.
It all changed when he stumbled upon a door leading down. It was barred with thick metal grates, overlooked by thick pillars of granite and marble and a fair number of burning torches. Compared to the medieval feel of the town, even though built of similar stone, this place had the feeling of a temple of old.
Close to the door, a group of three people were talking animatedly among themselves, their voices hidden by the loud rain that had turned into a deluge as the night deepened. Albert’s senses strained, and he had to use Power so that he could hear what they were saying.
“—catacombs, but who knows where they lead?”
“Some say they get all the way to the Spinetree!”
“Who cares?” The leader snapped. “Get this door open.”
A clang reverberated through the night, making the trio look around in search of anyone who could have heard. Albert instinctively pushed Scrappy’s head lower so that she would not get spotted, and shrouded the two with the use of his Power. Just in time, because a wave of mana arranged like the pulse of a radar soon swept through their position.
The trio didn’t seem to notice the disturbance caused by his Power eating at the mana of the pulse, and they went back to trying to get the door to open. The metal was obviously enchanted, and their attempts proved to be fruitless, much to their growing frustration. They cursed and rapidly lost composure, leaving behind all semblance of stealth. It would only be a matter of time before these deserters would be found.
They, however, could be a great tool for Albert. He, after all, had the same goal as they did.
“Watch this.” He told Scrappy.
She saw him produce a small multicolored cube from what must have been the only surviving pocket in his increasingly tattered cloak. Then he teleported the cube to the ground close to the three adventurers, whom he had identified to be B-rankers according to their tokens, and he made it glint unnaturally in the dark.
Its sides, slick with the rain, reflected and amplified the dim light of the torches, turning the orange color white.
Albert waited for a moment. When he noticed that one of the three had spotted the cube, and was reaching for it, he told Scrappy to wait and sprang into action. He lunged straight for the cube, making sure he arrived a moment too late and cursed loudly.
“That’s mine!” He yelled. Loud enough that he saw the three wince. “I saw it first. It’s mine, I say!”
The B-ranker who had reached for the cube looked at Albert dangerously. “Finders keepers.” He growled. “Or do you wish to fight for it?”
Albert pretended to think about it for a moment, then shook his head. “No. I’m sorry. I will leave.”
Then he ran back to his hiding spot.
***
“As I thought.” Richard muttered, watching the weakling scamper off with his tail between his legs.
He twirled the small artifact between his fingers, wondering how it even happened to be there. But, he was not one to turn down a stroke of good luck. Beside him, Todd and Medled were still trying to get the door to open, with the only result being that probably the whole city knew that something weird was going on near the entrance to the catacombs.
“Todd!” Richard called. “Take this.”
He tossed the cube to the newest member of his party, who clumsily caught it. The weird metal tool Todd was using fell to the ground with a clang, making Richard wince.
Richard also saw an expression of dread appear on Todd’s face as the man read the notification that came along with the cube.
“…system magic.” The man muttered. “No! I won’t use it.”
Richard’s expression hardened, and his hand went to the hilt of his sword. He knew why the man didn’t want to use the cube, of course, having read the notification himself.
Gambler’s die. An enchanted d20. Roll the die before an action. If the die rolls a number greater than 15, the action will be more likely to be successful the higher the number is. If the number is between 2 and 14, there will be no change. However, if the die rolls 1, whoever has cast the die will… die.
But Richard didn’t care about Todd’s life enough to risk his own. His eyes narrowed. “Use it, or would you rather test your luck against my blade?”
To emphasize his point, he drew his sword, which glowed a faint blue in the night. It was like moonlight, and he sheathed it before anyone could see the light, although with the thick rain and ice falling from the sky, he doubted anyone would.
Todd gulped. Medled made space, but not before elbowing the man in the gut. He played it as a friendly gesture, but Todd nearly doubled over in pain as the other man laughed loudly.
“Come on!” Medled howled, amused at the turn of events. “Never took you for a coward. It’s just a one in twenty chance!”
In truth, Medled could only afford to act this way because he was slightly more useful to Richard than Todd was. However, both of them were at the bottom of the B-rank, compared to his much greater strength which put him comfortably in the middle of the rank. Perhaps soon, if he managed to escape this hellhole of a city, he could reach the peak and finally ditch these two dead weights.
A shadow passed through Richard’s mind, and for a moment he felt panic. He looked around in a daze, trying to find whoever was responsible for what he had felt, but he had no time to dwell on the strange sensation because it passed just as quickly as it came.
Then, at the same time, he saw Todd cast the die. All three men bent over the ground where the die was spinning and spinning, taking ages to stop.
Then it settled on a small face. On it was a number: 7.
“No effect.” Todd said, barely a whisper. His ashen face meant he had saw death in the eye.
Richard stared at him impassively. “No effect. It won’t help us break this gate, will it? Cast it again.”
Todd gulped, but when his eyes settled on Richard’s blade, he simply retrieved the die and cast it again as ordered. This time, the number 19 came up. As the magic settled, Richard snatched the cube away for himself. It could come in handy in the future.
Todd, meanwhile, swallowed harshly and heaved a sigh of relief. Color returned to his face, but he didn’t have time to celebrate before Medled shoved the metal tool in his hand and pushed him towards the door. With barely a minute of work, the door opened and the three hurried inside the catacombs, not even daring to look back.
Richard was the first to enter, of course, not even bothering to tell the others what to do. It wouldn’t matter anyway, for he was the fastest of the three and if anyone followed, he would be far enough away not to have to deal with it.
Behind them, the door was left wide open. Two shadows slipped in the catacomb, unnoticed by the running adventurers.
They were Albert and Scrappy. When they were safely inside Albert released the Power concealing them, and instead focused it on the open door, which closed itself back to how it was before. Restoring a lock as hard as it was to open back again was much cheaper to do than forcing it open, after all.
Pleased with himself, Albert walked at a leisurely pace. Nobody would follow them. Inside, he was proud for having thought of a clever way to get around an obstacle, a way that barely cost him any Focus and was far more effective than any brute force method every would. Now they had three adventurers clearing the bulk of whatever dangers they might find in the catacombs, and he had gained Power reflecting his new use of his skills.
Reality Bending Power: 55 -> 60
Physical Power: 3
Which, by itself, was a source of many new questions. Namely: what was Power, really?
Why was he now stronger than he was before, even though all he did was come up with a clever trick and nothing more? How did this translate into more raw power?
The questions were passed along to Jeff. Albert and Scrappy had other things to deal with.
