Jjhutto_Son of Flame
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B3. Ch. 36 Parting Gift
🕑 Added 2024-09-13 03:20:16 +0000 UTCWarning, You have been marked by a Fey Noble for the WILD HUNT. Until you or the one who marked you is dead, the hunt will unerringly move toward your location. They receive multiple bonuses to movement speed and Endurance while the Hunt is active, and can not stop until their quarry is found. Beware, the Hunt follows the Wyrd Ways and will not be kept out of any area for long.
You are now a participant in the Hunt. It is for you to decide if you will be the predator or the prey.
“Mr. Tillman, what is it?”
Tilly ignored Mochizuki’s question as he slowly pulled open his shirt to reveal the almost-healed wound. Instead of a puckered puncture point marked by a small scar, Tilly found his own skin formed into the image of a laughing horned skull in red and white scar tissue.
He frowned down at the mark, looking up at Mochizuki after a long minute of consideration.
“I think that asshole is trying to use me as a shortcut to the Contested Lands… He thinks that is where I am returning after this, and he wants to get there faster than anyone else. Obviously that is not going to work for him, but if I don’t move immediately after I get back to Alliance, I’ll lead them straight to us.”
“Is it not good if we know they are coming? We could set up defenses.”
“No, no matter what, I’m going. Even if just to make sure our new guest doesn’t change his mind about moving on after he wakes up. This is just another variable to consid-”
“Next up!” The Auctioneer interrupted, “We have Tepegoz’s Eye.”
Out of thin air appeared a blue and white stone hung upon a simple string. - “This extraordinary item acts as a focus for all mental and wisdom-debuffing magics. If the wearer is targeted by such an attack, even if it is a battle-wide area of effect, the Eye will redirect that magic unto itself and nullify its effects.” They announced dramatically, dangling the deceptively simple-looking object in front of the arena’s alcoves.
“Such a thing could nullify a wide variety of enemy trump cards, and to top it off, this item is guaranteed to protect against any level Abilities, short of divine intervention. Bidding will start at one hundred thousand gold.”
Even through the fog of the recent turn of events, Tilly recognized a key opportunity to cover what was probably one of his biggest weaknesses. His hand shot to the control crystal, as Mochizuki nodded in approval and began sending an update to the council. He couldn’t even begin to imagine what she was going to write to sum up the events over a few lines of text, but he didn’t let that distract him as his flag joined thirty others at the starting bid.
“Wonderful! And to think a few malcontents wanted to ruin all of this fun! Let's just cut the stragglers, and move straight to one hundred and fifty thousand gold.”
Tilly didn’t care how much it cost, the Auctioneer had just bankrolled him straight into highroller status, and he would need every advantage he could get his hands on for the coming fight with the fey. His Endurance made it so he could take a few solid hits from almost anyone and his status as Origin’s Champion helped him punch well above his weight class when it came to fighting Corrupted.
Time and time again the true glaring weakness of his build had been in his metaphysical defenses. It seemed like every Dick and Jane that came along with some sort of mental attack could ruin his day, and he had no doubt that one thing the Fey would have in spades was access to all kinds of mental and emotional trickery.
Oberon had bought Tilly’s act and thought he was getting a free ride into the Contested Lands, but all he had done was make sure that they would arrive at the same time, and now… Tilly had time to prepare, and a stupid amount of money to make sure he showed up with as much magical firepower as possible.
He blew through the other bidders, easily the most hungry of those who were fighting for the item, and scored it for two hundred and twelve thousand gold. That amount would have seemed out of this world just an hour ago. But not now. Now Tilly was Bruce Wayne rich and had a score to settle.
…
An hour later, they had made it through two more collections of items, and one more break session that Tilly and Mochizuki both decided to skip. Neither of them felt up to another face-off if anyone else wanted to try their luck with the “Dragon Emmesary”. Instead, Tilly watched as Stephen Brightborn and Reginald moved through a string of what looked like discouraging conversations with multiple powers around the room, each one leaving with stony expressions or shaking heads. One Faction representative even ran away from the pair instead of being cornered for a discussion. Whatever their goals had been, Tilly doubted it was going well for either of them.
The Fallen Prince hadn’t made an appearance at the final break feast either, in fact, many of the obviously Corrupted attendees had skipped out on the final feast. Just as the bell rang to end the last break, Tilly was surprised to spot Guinevere the queen of the Sanguine Order gliding through the crowd to catch Stephen’s attention right before he turned to leave.
She was accompanied by an older man with an impressive beard. He was following in the sorcerous’ wake, but something about the way she held her shoulders seemed to hint at how important she thought he was. Plus everything he was wearing screamed “Wizard”, so Tilly was going to go out on a limb and guess that Myrllen had returned to the Faction.
‘Why not? Seems like everything else important is happening right now. Let's throw another variable in and see what happens’ Tilly monologued internally as the room cleared. He watched, more than a little curious, as the pair held a quick conversation with the Church leader. After the short exchange, Guinevere extended her hand graciously, and the Champion of the Lady Light took it and kissed it, before nodding respectfully to Myrllen and turning to leave.
It was good to see some of their allies meeting and speaking on friendly terms, and Tilly wondered why he had not spotted the leaders of the Sanguine Order earlier. They left to find their own stairway amidst the bustle of clearing workers and as the queen moved through the arch, Myrllen stopped to turn and cooly scan the arena. It may have been Tilly’s imagination, but it felt like those eyes hesitated as they found the window to Tilly’s booth.
Then the moment was gone, and so was the legendary figure. Tilly couldn’t, however, shake the feeling that the wizard had actually met his eyes for a fraction of a second. Before Tilly could mull over the unsettling feeling of being caught staring, the Auctioneer began to announce the final round of items.
One dramatic bidding war after another, they moved through some of the rarest artifacts and resources that Nephesh had to offer. When it was all said and done, the Alliance and Tilly combined had spent a truly staggering amount of gold. Mochizuki requested that he snap up several Faction-boosting items whose total almost surpassed the Alliance's budget. Tilly wasn’t sure how exactly they would use all of what they had bought, but from everything he had seen so far from their scrappy leadership, he was sure it was gold well spent.
For his part, Tilly decided to go with the theme of his earlier meetings and go full Batman.
He had an enemy to face that was superior in almost every way and he was going to do it with nothing more than whatever clever plan he came up with and a grudge… plus 1.5 million gold.
Tilly had no clue what a Corrupted Wild Hunt would entail, but he was fairly sure that he didn’t stand a remote chance of surviving if he kept the fight fair. They obviously had a plan to take on the current inhabitants of the Contested Lands, and it started with finding a way to get there before anyone else by marking Tilly. That wasn’t going to work out for them since he wasn’t any closer than they were, but it also meant that he had to get moving almost immediately after he returned to the Alliance.
So he bought everything he could afford that piqued his interest as half-formed plans and contingencies buzzed around his mind, droning with the steady, low note of righteous anger. Some of the things he had purchased sounded incredible, he just had to find the perfect way to use them. Not to mention he had to get his build synergy back online before the majority of his nacient plans would even be possible.
He had hoped that rolling up to the Contested Lands with a dragon more or less on his side would be a huge factor in his favor. But Oberon didn’t seem too concerned at the prospect of taking on the whole Draconic contingent, let alone a single dragon. So it was up to Tilly to prepare for his enemy using everything he knew about fire science and Jerry-rigging some of his own brand of magic bullshit to prepare some day-ruining surprises for the insane fey king.
“The Auction House offers its most sincere gratitude for your participation in what has been a record-setting event in more ways than one!” the Auctioneer announced cheerfully, pulling Tilly’s attention back to the stage as the robed figure bowed to the unseen audience, “Your liaison will be with you shortly to escort you back to your respective lands, and for those of you who made purchases this evening, your items will be waiting for you at your local chapter house. Thank you and good evening,” they said grandly, once more bowing deeply before continuing the motion until they actually folded in on themselves, disappearing entirely.
Mochizuki was scribbling back and forth with Shuji furiously, but after another minute, she looked up with a mischievous smile, “Well, you only started a fight with one of the oldest powers on the plane, so, all things considered, I would say we did very well.”
“Of course, you’d say that, Moch! You got your butt saved by a handsome elf… or should I call you shela?” Tilly rejoined, his matching smile breaking the lingering tension left by the event. At his words, Mochizuki suddenly looked away, totally failing to hide a small blush. The whole event had been so tense that even the slightest teasing had Tilly feeling giddy, and he was about to ask for more details when a soft knock at the door interrupted them.
“Ah, yes, that must be Talia, here to guide us home,” Mochizuki said quickly. She got up to get the door, when it opened up on its own, allowing the last figure they expected to walk in, entering their booth in a flurry of angrily rustling cloth.
“How dare they! Do those upstarts think they are beyond my reach?” They whispered angrily, seeming to look past the room’s occupants to the stage beyond.
“Yes?’ Tilly answered, having no clue if it was a rhetorical question or not.
The Auctioneer looked over at their chairs and paused as if surprised to see them there, “-I am sure I am far short of the full context, but to my knowledge, you are at the leading edge of the opposition to these so-called Corrupted?”
Tilly fought not to look over at Mochizuki, wanting to present as strong a front as possible. As far as he knew, while he didn’t have to tell them anything new, the Auction House was probably already privy to more secrets the Alliance held close to its chest than most.
“That would be fair to say.” Tilly hedged.
The Auctioneer nodded to themselves, “Good, so you will likely be at the center of whatever mess the System is brewing… I must inform you that the Auction House will remain neutral in this and all other conflicts on the plane as a part of our charter…”
“However, we are very interested in setting up a chapter house in these “Contested Lands”. As a promising member of one of the Factions likely to be present in those lands, I wish to offer you this,” they said, turning over the sleeve of their robe to reveal a seed-sized shape that was constantly growing and folding back in on itself in a nauseating violation of what the laws of nature.
“This is a chapter house seed, if you plant it in the ground of land you have successfully claimed, it will grow an entrance to our domain in a matter of hours.”
Comments
Zachary Koffink
Spooky seed! I can't wait for the next chappie.
