Ar'Kendrithyst

Sikali grabbed Xue’s hand as soon as intermission allowed them to leave their private box. Instead of going to a nice dark corner of the playhouse to use those dark corners for their intended purpose, and to continue what they had begun in the carriage ride, she brought him into the hallway, and then toward the rear exit.

“I didn’t think it was that bad,” Xue teased.

Sikali spat, “It was derivative tripe. No wonder it’s their last week. Whatever. They can’t all be Playway Hits.” She shook her head. “But that’s not why we’re leaving.”

The guard by the rear exit opened the door and let them leave. Husband and wife strode out into the cold night, full of stars and bright city lights. A few more steps brought them to another exit that dumped them onto the street beside the playhouse. They grabbed a carriage to Teleport Square.

Xue asked, “Are we going after those adventurers?”

Sikali frowned, her lower lip bouncing as the carriage hit a bump; a truly sad, and yet beautiful expression. “I want to, but…” She sighed, then laid it out there, “I have received a personal missive from Elder Mirizo Song. They’re putting out a Quest for our young alchemist and I am required to report, in person, and either fund the Quest myself, or demand a fund from an initiate who we will then elevate to the Capture Squad.” She frowned. “Though I doubt that is their goal.”

“No? What? Really?” Xue frowned, surprised. “Highly unusual. And right to the Squad, eh? Usually there’s a step in between.”

“It’s so ridiculous, I know!” Sikali said, “But the worst part is not about me having some damned initiate on my Squad. In the first place, Tadashi is from Diligent Scribe! A branch family! Why are we Enforcing for a branch family!”

“Because you’re the best, Sikali, and I love you.” Xue said, “And this whole thing is odd. Why put a Quest out for the guy you are trying to find. You know… Until we decided to go see a play tonight.”

“It was a bad decision, I know!” Sikali said, “And I love you too, but this has reeked of politics from the very beginning, and it vexes me. All I was supposed to do was work on recapture while they worked on negotiations for Tadashi’s return. And now we’re all the way to a Quest? Insulting, is what it is.”

“Could you have been better at finding the man?”

Sikali scowled. Xue regretted his words, immensely.

But Sikali was as much a professional as him. She said, “They must have caught wind that I went to see a play. Someone told them. But even I am allowed breaks! I was out there for a solid week!”

“Even you are allowed breaks,” Xue agreed.

“I am! It’s just…” Sikali frowned. “Alchemist Tadashi’s recapture is a higher priority than I was led to believe, and instead of properly informing me of the necessity of my task and allowing me to do my job… The shit is rolling downhill, as they say.”

“Should we just… Go? From here? No need to stop at the Teleport Square.”

“No.” Sikali said, “I am angry at them for lying to me. I will respond promptly, but in my own time. I am sure this is some sort of politics. Perhaps they have an initiate in mind? Someone’s pet? I cannot think of anyone. This is just Elder Mirizo Song’s way of getting another claw into my Capture Squad, I am sure of it.”

Xue supplied, “Elder Mirizo Song’s grand-niece is currently an initiate.”

Sikali suddenly went utterly silent; thinking.

They got out of the carriage and reached the Teleport Square. The white tile land was awash in flood lights, while the stars glittered above. A few people flashed with magic, arriving or leaving as they were wont. Xue left, taking his wife with him.

The world flashed.

Red pillars rose from a white courtyard, revealing the inner sanctum of Clan Star Song. Ten hidden elites watched them, but they made no moves to impede the two people who had just appeared inside Clan High Command.

Sikali flicked her hands and sleek, black leathers layered atop her sheer dress; her usual attire while working in her official capacity as the captain of Capture Squad Four. Xue worked his magics with a bit more finesse, discarding his clothes into a bundle at his back, while simultaneously conjuring the sweeping red robes that were his official Loremaster Squad Two attire. There were no captains in the Loremasters and everyone of specific squads were all of the same rank, except for the assistants.

With his rank, this meant that Xue could invite himself to Sikali’s… ordeal.

Which he did.

Elder Mirizo Song, the culprit of the current problem, and Elder Doniro Scribe from Diligent Scribe, the current person trying to buy favor from Clan Song, or whatever it was he was doing, received the pair of them in the solarium. At least that’s what it looked like, at first. But then the truth of Alchemist Tadashi came out.

Doniro was sweating. Mirizo was angry, but good at pretending to be calm. In easy, reasoned voices, Elder Mirizo spoke of what was to happen. Sikali was to fund a Quest to retrieve the Alchemist, and it would be done by the dawn of the next morning. However she wanted to do it was up to her. She could elevate an initiate. She could fund it herself. She could call in favors and have it done that way. But it would be done, and there would be no stopping that decision.

“This is opening the retrieval of Alchemist Tadashi to all the Clans of Eralis,” Sikali said, ensuring that everyone in the room understood the meaning of the action they were asking of her.

“This is correct, Captain Sikali,” Mirizo Song said. “Anyone else who has a Quest Board in the region will be able to see what you post. We need that alchemist back, and as the Captain charged with bringing him back, the enacting of this decision falls to you. Do your job or I will grant your position to your second. Enforcer Peroit will do what needs to be done, if you will not.”

Ah? So that was their play? A full dismissal of Sikali for her ‘failure’ at finding Tadashi?

Hmm. Devious, but easy enough to fight. Still. It made Xue’s blood boil.

Sikali just went colder.

With a dark voice, Sikali said, “I demand an initiate to fund the Quest. Pick an initiate you wish to elevate.”

She tried to bait out the real meaning of the shift in priority of her assignment, but—

Mirizo laughed.

Mirizo had laughed at his Sikali!

Xue almost blasted the Elder’s head off, but he refrained. He wasn’t even sure if such an attack would actually work. There was always the chance of catching a man off guard with a sudden killing spell, but—

Mirizo spared a glance toward Xue.

Yeah. That man wasn’t off-guard at all.

Sikali was in a tough spot, and Xue wasn’t sure how to best help her. How had she pissed off Mirizo? Or had her second, Enforcer Peroit, done something to gain great favor? Either were possible. Sikali was, however, beyond most easy reasoning.

She was entitled to this much, considering what they were trying to do to her.

Sikali said, “My wording for the Quest will be that Elder Mirizo has lost his butt boy, and that he—”

“INSOLENCE!”

The word blasted from Mirizo, focused on Sikali entirely, yet only slamming her back a single meter. She would have gone flying, but she had clawed her feet into the marble floor before she spoke back to the Elder. A few cracks formed in the glass of the solarium, but nothing a single [Mend] couldn’t fix.

Xue looked to his wife, to see how she wanted to proceed. He was ready to fight, and she was already seeing red, but then—

“Please,” Elder Doniro said, into the sudden roaring silence. “Please. There is no need for this violence, but there will be a grand lot of violence if we don’t get him back, and he must be brought back.”

Mirizo frowned, as he turned his glare to the other Elder.

Sikali lost some of her anger. She stared at the branch family Elder.

Elder Doniro said, “I will inform you of the reason we must recapture Alchemist Tadashi. I will even provide you with the five points to create the Quest, as we have already done this much preparation. Tadashi will just have to repay the points himself, therefore, he must be captured, and not eliminated.”

Sikali relaxed a fraction, but it was just for show. Xue knew she was prepared for this to go sideways, and so was he. The middle part of Doniro’s proclamation had rocked her just as much as it had rocked him.

Five points? For an alchemist? Ridiculous! Utterly insane! Was this ‘Tadashi’ the bastard son of some Elder… Some Elder like Elder Mirizo? Clan Star Song and Clan Diligent Scribe had been allies for hundreds of years, and there was no small amount of marriage between the two clans, but...

But… Elder Mirizo’s reaction to Doniro’s words was one of quiet displeasure at the smaller Elder. The room calmed. By that action, Xue knew that something big was happening, but that it had nothing to do with anyone here, aside from the normal scratching and backstabbing that happened everywhere. Elder Mirizo was angry at Doniro for spilling a secret which likely should not have been spilled.

If anyone of Sikali or Xue’s level had gone over Mirizo’s head like this and spilled secrets to the underlings of some other Elder… That would have been bad.

But Elder Doniro was an elder for a branch family.

And yet...

A five-point Quest. For an alchemist. A branch family alchemist!

The logistics involved in such an organization of resources could only mean three things. Either Doniro had supplied the points himself, or he had forced another to supply them, or he had truly organized the spread of those points from five different people in order to pay for the Quest.

Secrets would out soon enough.

Either way, one only put up a Quest when it was absolutely imperative that a task be done right then and there. Xue looked to his wife. By her face and stance, he guessed that her thoughts mirrored his. She had more of a right to speak on her thoughts, though, so he stood back and watched as she did so.

Sikali said, “Five whole points? A ridiculous sum, made all the more ridiculous by the manner in which you comport yourselves. Elder Mirizo. Elder Doniro. You had made me believe that this lost alchemist was a simple ransom, and you were using me to discover the quick way to end this confrontation while you were negotiating with the bandits through missives and such, as per usual.” She said, “These were all lies, or at the worst, a design upon me. Before I accept this assignment, you will tell me why Tadashi is necessary. You will tell me why you failed to impart his true importance when you gave me this assignment.”

“We will not, Enforcer Sikali.” Elder Mirizo said, “You are an Enforcer. You are not an Elder.”

Sikali stared at her Elder, saying, “I will not put my foot into a [Force Trap].”

“You will put your foot where I tell—”

Elder Doniro broke in, “He’s my son.”

Elder Mirizo scowled, but he did not interrupt.

Xue had to speak up, so he did, “That’s a lie.”

Doniro thought about refuting Xue’s declaration; Xue could tell. But he did not instantly refute Xue’s rebuttal, for he had lied, and he was not prepared to have his lie so easily caught and called out. Xue almost smiled in satisfaction, but he kept his face a mask, as was appropriate for the situation.

Mirizo sighed, then said, “Tell them the truth.” He warned Sikali and Xue, “This truth will not go in the Quest, nor will it leave this room.”

Sikali lifted her head a fraction; acknowledging.

Xue waited.

Doniro fiddled with several thoughts, for sure, because he did not instantly speak.

“I’m waiting,” Sikali said, glaring at Doniro.

Elder Doniro spat out, “We told you Alchemist Tadashi was captured when he went out searching for reagents for potions. This much is true. But… Alchemist Tadashi has invented a new potion. That potion is worth more than your life. We had hoped for negotiations to go well, but… Other people are working from opposite angles, and they have screwed all of us. All I can say is that it is imperative that you get him back, tonight.” He lamented, “They forced him to drink the Antirhine Elixir, and thus have forced all of our hands.”

Xue gasped. Sikali’s eyes went wide.

Mirizo breathed out his dissatisfaction, while Doniro wrung his hands.

To force the Antirhine Elixir upon a man was to poison them for all eternity and for them to die to scratches or bedsores or some other such mediocre horror. And the bathing! Constant need for bathing! An ignoble death, reserved for those who were too powerful to exile, too knowledgeable to kill, and too tricky to use more temporary means, like collars and tattoos. There was, at least, some dignity about the Elixir compared to the collar and the tattoos. Less blood and no true markings upon the body…

And you could walk around like a normal person. Mostly.

There were even some people, some fallen scions or fallen elders, who lived reasonable lives in the Noble District. Those people were no longer threats to the Highlands, after all, and their presence reminded everyone what happened to those who defied the will of the Songstresses.

But the Elixir was still a monumental sentence.

What sort of potion had Tadashi made?

An immortality po—

Sikali guessed before Xue could, “An Immortality Potion?”

Doniro angered. He spat, “Every child thinks [Immortality] is the goal of all alchemists! I tell you it is not! There are—”

“Stop.” Elder Mirizo declared, “You have received your true answer, and the heightened reasons for the actions we undertake today. You will receive no more. Do your job.”

“One more question.” Sikali asked, “Are we sure Alchemist Tadashi has not defected?”

With darkened eyes and in the cold air of the room, Elder Mirizo declared, “If Alchemist Tadashi has given his new potion to anyone else, or if he has defected, you will execute the true will of Clan Star Song, and the true will of the Highlands.”

Doniro frowned, then he quickly nodded.

Sikali stood straight. She had been appeased. Xue saw it in her stature and in her soul. Sikali gladly said, “By your will.” She turned to Elder Doniro. “Do you have the points now? I can post the Quest immediately. Is there a specific wording you would want?”

Mirizo produced a sheet of paper. “This wording, right here.”

Within minutes the Quest was posted. It was funded through points paid by Elder Doniro, and backed by an unusually easy prayer to Rozeta. Sometimes Sikali had to pray harder than she usually did. Once, she had even needed to explain herself, and Rozeta had refused to sponsor that Quest. But this time? This posting happened without incident or interruption, like it was meant to be.

Anyone with a Quest Board in the greater area would see the posting. This meant that the same group of about a hundred people would all see the Quest, as soon as they checked. Though the individuals in that group might change, there were always about a hundred of them. Xue’s wonderful wife had been a member of that exclusive group for the last ten years. Most of them were Scions, but some were just high-level Enforcers, like Sikali. Most of them checked the postings every day, but some would check it sooner, for sure, and then the tide would depart; every single one of them searching for Alchemist Tadashi.

Tadashi might be back in custody by the end of tomorrow. Or sooner.

Five points was a major quest. And a simple search? Well… Likely not so simple. Sikali hadn’t been able to find a single hint of Tadashi’s existence in a full week of searching, though by her own admission she had not tried that hard. Xue felt that this was both her fault, and the fault of the Elders, for they had not informed her of the necessity of rapidly completing her assignment.

But with this new development… Was the man still there? To be found?

After the meeting, Xue walked with his wife toward the Enforcer Manor, asking, “Is he still in the mountains?”

Sikali said, “[Teleport]ing is the only safe way through the Tribulation Mountains, and even that is dangerous if you have not scouted the area before you arrive. If the bandits tried to fly him out, then they are already dead. If they were to tunnel him out, then they are even deader. But the Quest went through. He’s alive.”

“And all this for a simple branch family alchemist.”

“I shall require your assistance, Loremaster Xue,” Sikali said.

Xue heard and understood. “In what official capacity can this Loremaster assist?”

Sikali returned to her casual way, saying, “I’m going to have to figure out a way to transport him out of those mountains. He cannot [Teleport].” She exclaimed, “They inflicted him with an Antirhine Elixir! Can you believe it?”

“I will undertake this task.” Xue said, “There are few standard formations that would be up to the job, but I am sure we have something better in the archives. I will have to check, but I should have a sky boat ready for your specific needs in five or six hours.”

Sikali nodded. “Enforcer Sikali appreciates your work.”

Xue nodded, as was appropriate.

All of this for a new potion. Must be some damn interesting potion.

… And then he considered.

He sent Sikali, ‘A New Stat Potion?’

Sikali’s back straightened. ‘Perhaps?’ She scowled. ‘No. They wouldn’t do this for a potion of Dark Boons. They would have ordered me to kill him like they ordered me to kill every single minor clansman who gained one of the New Stats.’

‘You were forced to ignore some of those from our High Clans.’

Sikali wanted to scowl, Xue could tell, but they were close to the Enforcer Manor, and her face was a mask. Enforcer Peroit might be nearby. The next time Sikali saw that man, Xue knew that Enforcer Peroit was going to get a talking-to, or perhaps a severe beating.

Sikali sent, ‘If Tadashi has made potions of New Stats, then he might suffer some untoward fate on the perilous journey to retrieve him. Grand Elder’s orders supersede whatever this mess is all about.’

‘It would be for the best.’

The two of them entered the Enforcer Manor. The entire building was already active and excited about the new Quest; they were all prepared to head out, right away. Good news travels fast, it seemed.

Enforcer Peroit was standing there, also excited about the new Quest. Sikali acted completely normal around him, for now.

Xue left his wife, saying, “I will organize a flying boat for you. It will take two days.”

Sikali said, “Thank you, Love.”

“Anything for you.”

Xue wanted to stay and watch what his wife did to Enforcer Peroit, but he was on a timer. He went directly to Loremaster Manor, to see what sort of treasures he would need to create that would suit the retrieval of an Antirhine Elixir’d individual.

He rushed to his books on sky boats, and to his personal scrolls.

All of the obvious formations were immediately discarded. They all relied on full field effects. Such a boat might fall out of the sky if the Alchemist wasn’t positioned in them properly, and flying through the Tribulation Mountains would surely cause the Alchemist to get tossed around a fair bit.

As Xue organized his thoughts and plans, he found his mind wandering.

How was Tadashi going to make his new potion if he was Elixir’d? His very touch would destroy the magics in many herbs and all the normal tools of the alchemist would be lost to him. Ah. Not a problem for this particular moment. Tadashi would just have to explain his process to the Loremasters of Clan Star Song, and they would work with him to recreate any specific spells he had, and any specific techniques he utilized. There was no way that whatever potions Tadashi had invented would go back into the hands of the branch family Diligent Scribe. Not at this point.

But those were thoughts for later, for after Sikali rescued Tadashi and claimed the five points that Elder Doniro put into that Quest.

Xue smiled. How strong was his wife right now? This Quest would put her at 249 extra points, if he recalled correctly, all of them spread out mostly evenly in her Status.

Maybe he should ditch one of his Class Abilities… Perhaps Heighten Blood? Then he could retake the Quest Board. The extra damage provided by Heighten Blood was hardly necessary with his current level of spellwork, and he was only at 210 extra points. If his wife got too far ahead she might start teasing him again, and while a little teasing was okay, Xue did not like being teased over power levels.

Not going to happen.

Anything else was fine, though.

Xue shook his head, smiling, and lost himself in his work, pulling out books and scrolls and even accessing the Grand Archive for more esoteric sky boat designs. He quickly discovered that he had been right; there were few formations up to the triple task of speed, safety, and accounting for an Elixir’d person.

There were many formations on record that allowed a sky boat to traverse the Tribulation Mountains at great speed, and under great defense. There were even formations that were meant to ferry the Elixir-afflicted without harming them, or the formations of the boat. But combining the two was a different sort of problem, never really solved. Alchemist Tadashi would likely need immediate medical attention, too, so Xue would need to account for that…

Trees grew at his command. Wood became planks at his touch. Planks curled and bent together, becoming more than what they were before. Soon, the skeleton was done. Ten meters long and half that wide, this was the smallest he could make the boat. He would have liked to have gone smaller and therefore faster, but the formations needed a certain amount of space to be able to ignore the effect the alchemist would have upon them.

Xue adjusted the boat’s skeleton a few times.

When he was satisfied, he opened his forearm with a casual swipe of his finger. Crimson blood poured into the air, like a floating river, and then began to glitter darkly as Xue condensed his mana directly into core-powder within that blood. Glowing red and full of possibility, Xue wielded his blood like a knife and set to work, inscribing the first set of runes into the skeleton of the sky boat.

He smiled. This was almost as good as knocking down upstart adventurers.

… Ah. That man with the shield, and the [Familiar]s. Xue had forgotten. Oh well.

That man would be a problem for someone else.

The first set of runes was easy enough to lay down, for Xue had laid these runes a hundred times before now. The ordeal of minor variations was no real ordeal at all. After a once-over, seeking flaws among his work and finding none, Xue went to his door and told his assistant to make him some food; whatever they had ready and hot in the kitchens would do, and some wakeful tea. The young initiate ran off at his command.

When the assistant came back, he came with a full roast chicken, some of those delightful new ‘potatoes’ from Glaquin, a good tea, and with Elder Arilitilo. The older woman had been woken up by the news, or someone had woken her. Whatever the case, Xue’s mentor appeared as regal as ever, in her bright red robes. Xue’s own conjured robes were a match for hers, of course.

“Loremaster Xue.” Arilitilo said, “I understand that a large Quest has gone out and that you were there when it happened.”

Xue owed this woman everything, and so Xue said, “Yes, Elder.”

“I wish to hear your thoughts, and to hear what was left out of the Quest.”

He told her what he had heard, but he did dance around certain facts that were left out of the Quest, like the fact that they wanted the alchemist back because of his knowledge of potions. Arilitilo understood the necessity of this particular dance, and so did not press, but instead danced along with him, as she had taught him long ago. At the end of the talk, Elder Arilitilo knew she needed to speak to certain people in the potion houses of Diligent Scribe.

She left, satisfied, and yet angry. Something was happening in the potion houses of Diligent Scribe, and she would discover what. Xue would not want to be counted among those forced to fully deny that old Blood Mage, but someone would try to block her path. Pity those fools, for they know not who they are dealing with.

… Just what had that young Alchemist invented?

- - - -

The bar was hopping, everyone was drunk, Paul was a euphoric-drunk, and this was fun.

The light hit his sapphire eyes like a blue fire, as he said, “I just wanna say, that I—! That I appreciate you.” He flipped a hand, speaking in a universally true way, “And I know you do the same to me. We don’t have to ever talk about that so-called ‘revelation’ you had out there. It’s like. I don’t know. This is great.” He concentrated, saying, “We’re being all ‘new-land’ and shit, and that’s great, too. And! Hey! You haven’t nuked anything yet, and that’s just swell.”

Ezekiel laughed, as he teased, “What the fuck is a ‘nuke’, Paul?”

No one cared about whether their words were too loud, for the band was louder than everything else and the night was jumping. Tiffany and Julia were dancing and drunk and surrounded by too many men, but whatever. As for Paul and Ezekiel? Though they were ‘speaking’ in the audible way, they were both horribly slurring their words, and thus only able to actually communicate telepathically. Which is how they were actually talking. The line between mental and aural communication methods was rapidly becoming open to interpretation.

Paul laughed. “A nuke is a cloud made of mushrooms!”

“You’re going to have to explain the logistics on that.” Ezekiel asked, “How does a fungaloid get as large as a cloud? It’s some monster, no doubt.”

“Your diversions to the conversation help no one. For anyone else, I would have told them that they have to go and get laid and I would likely be their wingman—” Paul stopped. He suddenly lamented, “I’m always the wingman.”

“Ha!” Ezekiel said, “I didn’t know that.”

“Yeah. You didn’t. I’m not a great communicator.” Paul said, “And I’m truly going to regret this conversation in the morning, but I need to talk about my sister, now.”

“Please.” Ezekiel said, “I am listening.”

After he said those words the mood between them became something a lot calmer than the rave happening in the other parts of the bar. One might even say that the air turned ‘funeralish’.

“She was great! She helped me gain control of my abilities. And then she died.” Paul scowled, then downed the other half of his liquor. He amended, “She was murdered. She didn’t do something as simple as ‘die’. She was murdered.”

Ezekiel launched out of his seat and grabbed Paul, wrapping him in his arms, saying, “I’m so sorry.”

Paul just started bawling as he hugged Ezekiel just as tight as Ezekiel hugged him. In a building of hundreds of people, no one heard. No one saw. No one cared, except for Ezekiel and Paul.

Paul broke away, drying his face with the edge of his claw, saying, “Gods. I haven’t broken down like that in twenty years.”

“I’m sorry about your sister.” Ezekiel said, “I had a sister. Younger sister. I barely remember her; she died when I was eight. Complications from… I’m not sure. My parents never really said. I think it was some sort of heart disease. Genetic.”

Paul smiled softly, saying, “My sister… Rizala. That was her name. She was murdered by—” He suddenly stopped. He said, “It doesn’t matter.”

“Paul.” Ezekiel sent, and said, “I’ll protect you from everyone in the world, if I have to.”

Paul laughed loud, though not loud enough to break past the music. “I know. I know. Thank you. I thought I was ready to speak of this, but I’m not.”

Ezekiel smirked. “That’s okay, too.”

Paul said, “It’s just that everyone is healing, it seems. Eh. Actually. Your young greenscale friend is fucked up, but Tiffany is doing a lot better. Have you noticed? Yes, you have noticed. Bah. Julia is doing great, too! That gridwork helped her a lot!”

“It did, didn’t it!”

Ezekiel laughed, downed his drink, then signaled to the incani waitress walking around in a thong and floss and the sheerest, smallest robe possible. She was showing more purple skin than any other three people in the bar, combined, and it was great. Paul thought so, too. Two more firewater shots! Bring the bottle! He watched her violet ass bounce as she walked away. It was a good sight. He turned back to Paul, who seemed to be stuck watching the waitress’s ass.

Paul laughed, catching Ezekiel’s thoughts. He turned, and said, “You’re so much more observant than you used to be. You know?”

“I do know.” Ezekiel could not seem to stop smiling. “I know a lot about a lot, but very little about the important stuff. I really should have noticed that about you and your reasoning for not wanting to adventure. Constantly shoved out of the light because your skills aren’t flashy at all.”

Paul affected a glare, without heat. “I’m fine.”

“You say that; sure.”

“The only thing that fucked me up in the last few days was those Hunters,” Paul said, taking a shot from the newly arrived bottle. “Not because of my sister, though. You can nix that thought right away.”

Ezekiel paid the waitress a full gold coin. She set the coin into a small pouch just above her thong, smiling while Ezekiel stared at the obvious goods on display.

Paul poured a shot for Ezekiel, bringing him back to the moment, saying and sending, “The temptation is always there. To make the world a better place, through force.”

Ezekiel zeroed in on Paul, listening intently.

Paul seemed to flinch under the sudden, focused attention. He drank another shot. Ezekiel took another shot, too. Odin was busy singing along with the band, amplifying the sounds of everyone up to new heights and better harmonies, and the band seemed to love it, and genuinely, too; not in that way that the cowed sometimes pretended to love the actions of the rich and powerful. Odin even managed to stay fully bird-shaped! Amazing!

Even Yggdrasil’s orb was bouncing in time to the music around Ezekiel. Everyone was jumping, everyone was dancing.

But Paul and Ezekiel were alone in the crowd, at their table in the middle of the restaurant bar.

Paul said and sent, “The problem is that you can do it, and it works, but then what? We’ve tried this before. Quintlan is not only uninhabited because of monsters.”

Ezekiel exclaimed, “Well you obviously did it wrong in Quintlan!”

“Ha! What? No we didn’t.”

“All’s I’m saying is that you didn’t do anything. Your people did. And a thousand years ago or whatever. What do you know about what happened back then? What do you really know? You were surprised about the Highlands.” Ezekiel asked, “How reliable is the information that your people collect? Are the stories you tell yourself real stories, or imagined ideals? Or imagined horror stories, meant to frighten and box you in?”

Paul affected a scowl, saying, “This surprise over the Highlands was just a matter of me not reading enough. I do not read horror stories. I am not Tiffany. Bah!” He returned to the issue, saying, “The problem is that all central authorities eventually succumb to corruption. The ideas themselves are not a problem. That Empathy Option is not a true conundrum. The fallibility of people is the problem, and while we respect the gods, no one is willing to enact a theocracy, and the gods wouldn’t want to take control of society, anyway. They like being benevolent assistants, like you.” He flipped a hand, saying, “But then we got the other immortals. The mortal immortals. But leaving power in the hands of immortals is similarly asking for an eventual violent revolution. It’s the problem of immortal mediocrity; they usually fall into ruts and short-lived mortals are not in ruts and just look at Frontier and Kal’Duresh—” He froze. He continued, “Where your daughter is from, you know? Kal’Duresh. That place. And Spur! Run by an immortal, but fallen to ruin until recently… What was I saying? Oh yeah. The Empathy Option. Putting power like that into the hands of any system is asking for that system to become corrupted.” He clicked a talon, saying, “Oh yeah! And don’t give power to immortals, because they can’t do as good a job as mortals. They’re too relaxed. Honestly, this is likely the real issue with the Headmaster and what they teach at Arcanaeum. Nothing too evil happening there, just good old relaxing into a rut. And—”

Paul was obviously in the ‘I will talk all night’ part of his drunken process.

Ezekiel interrupted, “All power eventually wanes and waxes.” He said, “This is not a reason to not enact good while we can, using the methods at our disposal.”

“That’s an argument, too!” Paul said, “But stripping free will is not an answer.”

“So we just ask the people. Give them a choice aside from banishment or execution.”

Paul smiled, then said, “There are other options. There’s one they use in this very land, too. It’s called the Antirhine Elixir.”

Ezekiel leaned backward. He frowned, scowled, then cringed. Then he asked, “Does that do what I think it does?”

“Yup! Locks someone out of magic, entirely. Life-long potion, too. No magic. No healing, either.” Paul hummed, as though reconsidering his enthusiasm for the option. “They usually die of an infection. They still regain Health and Mana though, so if they’re high level, they go and get some different Class Abilities. Mana Shield is one of them; automatically use your Mana like extra Health.” He paused. He added, “A few others, I’m sure, but I cannot think of any.”

Ezekiel said, “Yeah. No. Don’t like this Elixir at all.”

“It’s just death by another name, isn’t it?”

“A slow, painful death.” Ezekiel said, “Magic is absolutely wonderful. I don’t think so many people should have as much as they do, but I certainly don’t think that anyone should be locked out of magic— should be locked out of even receiving magic, too! No healing! No [Cleanse]— OH MY GODS. No [Cleanse]! That’s just awful.”

Paul hummed. “Yeah. That is pretty bad, isn’t it. Anyway!” He pointed at a very hot dude by the bar, saying, “Do you want a wingman? I see you looking.”

Ezekiel laughed loud. He pointed at the woman at the table next to theirs, the one who was currently playing around with a berry stem as she eyed Paul. “Do you want a wingman?”

Paul’s eyes went wide, as he looked. The women at the table next to theirs started laughing.

One of them asked if Paul and Ezekiel were going to fuck, and if they could watch.

Well no, there would be none of that, but hey, pretty ladies, you want some drinks?

They did.

The rest of the night went well.

Ezekiel ended up spending 35 gold, which was way more than he expected, and even more so considering what 35 gold actually represented in the Highlands’ stable economy. 10,000 dollars in one night was a lot! But… Maybe it wasn’t.

The four of them had certainly eaten and drunk more than enough, and they had made some temporary drinking friends, but they had spent too much. They’d need to go back to the mountains tomorrow. They’d be more careful about their spending going forward.

In the hotel room, Tiffany and Julia took the room across the hallways. Paul and Ezekiel roomed together. A very drunk [Witness] from the two people capable of such revealed no intruders into the hotel space or anything else untoward, aside from the proprietor of the establishment combing through the rooms, looking for gold or bags or whatnot.

Joke was on him! Ezekiel and his people had nothing! Ha!

As the lights of the moons stretched across the room in pink, white, and silver, Paul laid in his bed, and Ezekiel laid in his own. Odin twittered on the headrest. Ezekiel reapplied his eye drops, and closed his eyes.

Paul rolled over, unable to sleep. He sent, ‘I’m actually demi. Technically.’

Ezekiel opened his eyes and looked over to his roommate.

Paul’s eyes were already open. He sent, ‘Mother was incani. Father looked incani. He bolted when my twin sister and I were born and his truth was discovered.’ Paul stared out the window, at the moons, and at Hell, in particular. He was still drunk and his words reflected that sort of disjointedness, as he continued, ‘A lot of people lie and say they appreciate me, but they never do. A lot of people lie, almost all the time. But you never have.’ He snorted. ‘Overmuch, anyway. It’s… really nice. Not many people are exactly who they appear to be. Most people are a lot worse. Most people truly hate when they find out that I can hear what they think, but you like that I can hear what you think. That’s been really nice.’

Ezekiel listened.

Paul smiled as he looked away, and sent, ‘I still think this experiment in subterfuge is an exercise in futility.’

Ezekiel’s face broke into a wide grin. ‘It’s not that bad, is it?’

‘Not nearly as bad as I thought it would be, but it’s getting there. We attracted the eyes of hundreds of people, but only several that mattered. A few young masters. A few scions. A lot of people dismissed us when we paid with gold. A lot of people started to look the other way.’ Paul sent, ‘There was one pair of people in particular— A pair of Enforcers for Clan Star Song, but they were more enamored with themselves than with us.’

‘About as expected.’ Ezekiel asked, ‘What would happen if I revealed myself as myself?’

Paul thought for a long while.

Ezekiel noticed that his usual telepathic lines of intent were down from a dozen, to just two, and one of those two was to Ezekiel. He had noticed the lack of the usual lines of intent before, as soon as they got away from Spur and Treehome, but he had not truly noticed the change enough to reflect upon this new, temporary normal, until now. Paul was disconnected from his usual people. Usually, he was talking to everyone, right? But they were far from those people, now, and he was probably feeling lonely.

‘Phhhbt! I’m not lonely! Not really.’ Paul sent, ‘And I’m not sure what would happen if you revealed yourself. It’d be annoying for you. Likely a lot of posturing in front of people you would rather not talk to. They’d demand shit. You would counter. Big things would happen. Do you want big things to happen?’

‘Not particularly.’ Ezekiel asked, ‘Are you still deflecting people from me? Even here, outside of Spur?’

‘… I did, once. It was a young master who didn’t like how you looked, back in the third bar we went to. I shouldn’t have done that. I was operating on auto-pilot.’ Paul sent, ‘Archmage Erick Flatt gets a lot less messages these days, though, since we are half a world away from where you’re supposed to be. I am still deflecting the few that get this far, though.’

‘Can you teach me how to deflect people away from me?’

Paul smiled. ‘I cannot express to you how happy it makes me that you are not asking that question out of a desire to get rid of me—’

‘Of course I wouldn’t want to get rid of you!’

‘— But I can’t. You’re not a Mind Mage, and this is… It’s an intrinsic technique. You once postulated that mind mages have something different about them that makes them naturals? This much is true. And you just… Can’t ever learn this technique.’ Paul added, ‘You could fake it, though. Maybe? Some form of [Sealed Privacy Ward] turned into an aura, perhaps? You’d be actually invisible in that case, so it wouldn’t be the same at all… Ahhh. Sorry. I can’t help you, there.’

Well that was slightly disappointing. Not the end of the world. Still disappointing.

Ezekiel postulated, ‘Are you sure it’s not just a [Don’t Notice Me] spell, turned into an aura? Is it even an aura? I don’t even notice you running auras but… I have never noticed you running an aura.’

‘Sure you have! Those ‘lines of intent’ that circle around my head. That’s an aura. That’s always been an aura, and always active. Almost all the time.’

‘Oh!’

‘Eh. Well. It’s not a real aura, though. It’s just aura control.’ Paul sent, ‘And that’s another thing. You can’t learn this technique because you have no aura control outside of Aurify. There is a [Don’t Notice Me] spell, and you could turn that into an aura, but then you have to run that aura all the time, and that’s not even the first problem you would have to overcome. I’m only able to do what I do because I can hear the surface thoughts of those around me, and then apply the [Don’t Notice Me] spell in a directed manner. An undirected [Don’t Notice Me] is very noticeable.’ He added, ‘Everything I do stems from my natural ability, which… you do not have.’

‘Yeah. I can see the complications… Eh. It’s fine. A bit of a let-down, but that’s okay.’

Paul seemed to weigh something.

And then he sent, ‘You could fake my natural ability through a [Telepathy] aura. Open ended, receive only. It would be difficult and you’d need to learn a lot more about Mental Magic, but that would be the first step.’

‘Maybe some other day.’ Ezekiel smiled in the darkness of the room, and sent, ‘You know, we gotta get back to the mountains tomorrow. I spent most of our gold today.’

‘Ugh! Yeah. I know. Prices are so much better around here, aren’t they? And yet we still managed to spend all that gold. Maybe we shouldn’t have hit up the fourth bar. You know—’

Ezekiel chuckled, then interrupted him, sending, ‘Good night, Paul.’

‘It’s so weird not sleeping under a [Prismatic Ward]. Remember when those Shadow Spiders almost got us?’

Ezekiel was suddenly wide awake. ‘I am certainly remembering it now!’

Paul just rolled over in his bed, sending, ‘Don’t mind me. I’m just drunk. We’re perfectly fine. No monsters under these beds; I checked. Good night.’

Ezekiel stared at the ceiling, his mind working overtime on too many thoughts at once.

Soon enough, Paul filled the air with gentle snoring.

Ezekiel threw a pillow at him.

- - - -

The morning dawned, and Ezekiel woke to greet it. Jet lag? What was that? [Gate]-lag didn’t exist for him, either, and neither did ‘hangovers’. The necessity of having a ‘recovery time’ certainly existed for everyone else, though.

Julia frowned as she stuck a spoon into the rice-gloop that was the common breakfast food of the area. It did not look appetizing. She added a lot of sugar to compensate, as she grumbled, “What’s for today?”

Tiffany held her head, saying, “Hit me with a healing, Julia. This hangover isn’t going away.”

Julia slapped Tiffany on the arm with a blue spell.

Tiffany grumbled. “Shit. I drank way too much.” She pointed at the general vicinity of her head, saying, “This shouldn’t be happening. Were we poisoned?”

Paul chuckled. “No. You just drank thirty gold of the highest proof alcohol in the world.”

“Thirty gold is nothing!” Tiffany said, “I—” She relaxed. She breathed and blinked. “Okay. There it goes. Thank the gods for healing. First time wasn’t enough.”

“Wish I could say the fifth time was good enough for me,” Julia complained.

With a cheerful tone, Ezekiel said, “You should have healed up last night and drunk more water~!”

“Hush, you,” Julia said, as she added berry jam to her rice glop.

Paul took the jam from Julia and added some to his own glop, saying, “Your powers of recovery are more than those of us mere mortals, Scion Phoenix.”

Ezekiel barked a laugh. Then he tried his own glop… Hmm. “What is this called, anyway?”

“Disintegrated Rice,” Julia said. “Called a dozen different names, but more commonly known as congee. So what’s for today?”

Ezekiel said, “Well. We gotta get some more money, and I’m apt to do that before we go hunting for Songstresses. Maybe spend the morning doing that. In the afternoon we can go visit the Void Temple. Maybe look for a hotel in Eralis proper.”

Tiffany nodded along, then said, “Then I need a veil.”

“You were dancing so nicely in the middle of that crowd, though,” Ezekiel said.

“But before that, I was drinking like a void fish,” she rebutted. “Because of the eyes.”

“Ah. Well.” Ezekiel nodded.

Julia said, “Did we really spend that much last night?”

“Oh yeah. 45 out of 55 gold, gone. I don’t want to control our money, either.” Ezekiel said, “This time I think we should kill enough monsters to get that much for each of us. Of course, we could just hunt for a grand-core monster. That’d give us a nice base for all future interactions in the city.”

Julia said, “I know we avoided it last time, but we could consider flying around. Attract a lot of big monsters that way. Then you freeze them and they fall out of the air and we’re rich.”

Tiffany hummed, then said, “There’s making money, and then there’s tempting fate to turn you to paste. You seem to be after the second option.”

Julia said, “The gluttons only appearing when they’re already able to bite you is more scary.”

“You need a mana sense,” Tiffany teased.

Julia groused, “Don’t I know it.”

“The Mist Stone Gluttons were dangerous enough,” Ezekiel said, “But even those intangible monsters stayed away from the sky because Thunder Birds roost up there, and they blast apart anything that flies from kilometers away.”

“And…” Julia said, “That’s another thing. I was thinking that I want a Thunder Bird.”

Tiffany laughed. “I should have seen that coming.”

“We can certainly hunt for one.” Ezekiel said, “Anyone else got any [Polymorph] forms they want? Or anything else they think they might want to do?”

“Hunting a bird would be much more dangerous than gluttons.” Paul suggested, “Maybe we stick to gluttons for a little while.”

“Fair enough.”

“Are there any high-level monsters around here?” Tiffany asked, “We could hunt some of those, too.”

“Oh! There’s another way to get points, though.” Julia perked up. “What’s your Quest Board saying, dad? Anything good in the area?”

Tiffany frowned a little, but said nothing.

Julia glanced her way, her eyebrows smushing together in a questioning sort of way.

“Quests, eh?” Ezekiel said, “Let me check.”

“Point of order.” Paul said, “Any Quests posted here would be events that we would wish to avoid.”

Ezekiel waved him off, saying, “Oh! We’ll be fine. Now let’s see...” He brought up the Quest Board.

Not twenty seconds of reading later, Ezekiel began to frown.

Paul ate his congee, knowingly.

Julia looked between the two of them. She frowned. “What?”

“All of these…! What’s up with this?” Ezekiel handed over three to the group, saying, “Now you tell me: Is this what it looks like?”

Quest!

Deliver a vase of water to Elder Mirizo Star Song.

Reward: 1 point.

Poster: Rozeta, Dragon Goddess of the Script

Lesser Poster: Elder Mirizo Star Song, of Clan Star Song

Quest!

Deliver a vase of water to Elder Bazado Pure Lotus.

Reward: 1 point.

Poster: Rozeta, Dragon Goddess of the Script

Lesser Poster: Elder Bazado Pure Lotus, of Clan Pure Lotus

Quest!

Deliver a vase of water to Grand Elder Charkira Wild Song.

Reward: 1 point.

Poster: Rozeta, Dragon Goddess of the Script

Lesser Poster: Grand Elder Charkira Wild Song, of Clan Wild Song

Julia hummed, reading.

“Ah. Yeah. That. That’s what I was remembering.” Tiffany nodded, as if she had been proven correct. “Yup! This is how Quests go bad. Yet another reason why we don’t do them at S— Home.” She caught herself from speaking of Spur, there at the end.

Julia asked, “And you can do this with Quests? They still have to pay out of their own points, don’t they?”

“Nope.” Paul said, “All you need is someone with a Quest Board to post the Quest and someone with a point to give up, and there you go— Ah. Rozeta does have to approve of it. She doesn’t approve of everything.”

Tiffany said, “If you were to make a Quest that read something like: ‘Go and kill a guy and you will take their points.’ That kinda thing does not work. I think you get smited for that.”

“There’s never been a recorded case of actual smiting, Tiffany,” Paul said.

Tiffany shrugged, “Like I believe the records. Phshh.”

Paul continued, “More normally, Rozeta won’t allow points to be transferred if the people doing the transfer honestly don’t want to do the transfer. You can’t control someone to put their points up for a Quest as Rozeta checks each time someone accesses the Script in any meaningful way, and Quests certainly count.”

“But you could build a culture around Quests and giving points to the people in charge,” Julia said.

“Oh yeah, you can; people do.” Tiffany said, “There’s tons of ways people try to abuse the Script, and themselves, and their children. I heard that some places— Maybe even here? I heard that they have soul mages to fiddle with their noble children to give them 20 in each Stat, across the board, the day after they matriculate!”

Ezekiel’s eyes went wide. “You can do that?”

Julia was equally stunned.

Tiffany nodded, as though she had drawn people into her campfire story. She continued, “Whenever you hear about a noble’s son or daughter going bad a few days after Matriculation, that’s when you know that their parents fucked with their souls.”

Ezekiel gave a nervous laugh—

But Julia just barked a full laugh, saying, “You’re fucking with me!”

“I’m not!” Tiffany said, “It’s true!”

“It is true. It does happen,” Paul said.

Ezekiel’s face scrunched as strange half-thoughts filled his mind with disappointment and worse emotions.

Julia stopped laughing. She narrowed her eyes. “How easy is this soul magic? Could I have saved dozens of levels of points? Does it go higher than 20? I heard that’s the natural cutoff for slow growth, but… I don’t really know, now do I?”

Tiffany said, “You don’t want to do this soul surgery. The only people who’ve done it right have each performed hundreds of experiments that went wrong, damning the souls of children into becoming monsters in order to learn their dark arts.”

Ezekiel suddenly stopped believing Tiffany’s horror story; she had taken it too far. “Eh! You can fix the soul before it hurts the person too much, can’t you? I don’t know if such surgery would require a practitioner to drop bodies before they got any good at it. And besides that? Can’t you just do the surgery on animals?”

Tiffany rolled her eyes, then said, “Sure. I can see what you’re saying. But—” She gestured around at the walls of the room, saying, “Look at all the people here. There’s so many, and there’s no homeless because they’re all yanked off of the streets and thrown into the war machine of the Highlands. I am sure that someone heard the same stories I heard, but didn’t have your morals, and practicing on people would always give better results than practicing on animals. If you think someone around here didn’t get deep into that dark magic and then make a successful career out of it, then I got some Immortality Potion to sell you.”

“Okay. Despite that horror.” Ezekiel straightened his face, and with the most serious expression, asked, “How much for the potion?”

Tiffany laughed. Even Paul chuckled.

Julia asked, “And can you make more Immortality Potion? We can gain great favor if you can!”

Tiffany laughed louder, and the rest soon followed.

When the laughter died down, they got back to Quests.

“So what do these people get?” Ezekiel asked, “These people who put up the points for the Quest?”

Paul said, “Broadly speaking, those people who give up their points are elevated from initiate to clan member. I’m sure I have not heard the whole story there, but I have little reason to believe that anyone undertakes this action without knowing exactly what they are doing. So… You tell me? Does that sound like a bad deal?”

Ezekiel said, “It means they can go out and hunt monsters and level properly. Probably with assistance? I know how our Clan works, but not every Clan is the same. And these ones are a lot different than I thought they would be.”

Tiffany frowned. “I still don’t like it. It’s too easy to abuse, and the people who give up to get into the system permanently hurt themselves so those at the top can become even more powerful. Look at these Quests. ‘Give a vase of water to an Elder’. These are repeatable Quests, for sure. Means the powerful around here are running around on an extra 200 Stats, at least.”

Paul shrugged. “It’s how they do it, here.”

Julia said, “Even a guy with 200 Strength is still going to die to a pillar thrown through his head. The Script does ensure this much.”

Tiffany said, “With 200 Strength, I bet that same guy could punch a pillar with his head and be fine.”

“I meant an unaware target, obviously. Such a target would not be fine.”

Tiffany shrugged. “I would be fine.”

“And you’re an orcol.”

Tiffany nodded. “Not everyone is perfect; this is true.”

With a smile, Ezekiel said, “Let’s math it out a bit. With 200 Strength, Scion of Strength, and a Class Ability for Double Health, you’re looking at 48,000 Health.”

Paul said, “But most people around here are Scions of Balance.”

Ezekiel nodded, saying, “And I’m sure they’re more balanced in their Stat distribution, too. 150 to Strength and Willpower, means 18,000 Health, and 18,000 Mana.”

These new numbers meant he could revise his previous calculations, where he dumbed down his own ‘incognito Stats’ to a bare 6000 mana. He could pretend to have 18,000 mana… But his current idea of going at 6000 mana would jive well with him being a ‘Foreign Scion’ that didn’t participate in these sort of Stat games like the Highlands evidently did… Which meant that maybe he shouldn’t revise any numbers at all.

He certainly didn’t have to be quite so calculating about mana costs, though, in case someone was watching. And with [Witness], you could be sure that someone was always watching. At least, back home, his [Prismatic Ward] blocked most of that. Tiffany had only gotten as good as she had because she was able to pierce through that dense air.

“18,000 Health and Mana. Ahh.” Julia said, “A large amount, that. But all it really means is that they have the resources to back up their actions, and to make up for a failed attack.”

“That’s…” Tiffany scowled a bit, then relaxed, saying, “That’s not incorrect. Fights between Scions might last more than a trio of exchanges if they have the raw Stats to back up a good, actual defense, and if they focus on reflective magics.”

“Anyway!” Julia said, “I want some more Stats. Got any Quests that aren’t based on the systemic abuse of underlings, and that the posters might actually let us complete?”

“I can agree to that,” Tiffany happily said.

“Yeah. I saw a good one.” Ezekiel said, “Here.”

Special Quest!

FIND the lost alchemist, Tadashi Diligent Scribe, of the Branch Family Clan Diligent Scribe, beholden to Clan Star Song, of Eralis, and then RETURN Tadashi ALIVE and INTACT to Clan Star Song or to any of the lesser posters of this Quest.

Tadashi was last seen roughly 1900 kilometers northwest of Eralis, deep in spiritual herb territory in the Central Tribulation Mountains. He was captured by bandits.

The return of Tadashi is more important than the murder of bandits.

COMPLICATIONS: He has been afflicted by an Antirhine Elixir. If you have no way of returning him intact and unharmed, then do not pursue this Quest. Do not make yourself an enemy of Eralis.

This Quest has been active for .

Reward: 5 points.

Poster: Rozeta, Dragon Goddess of the Script

Lesser Poster: Elder Mirizo Star Song, Enforcer Sikali Song of Clan Star Song. Elder Doniro Diligent Scribe of Clan Diligent Scribe.

“I wanted a good in with the Clans.” Ezekiel said, “This is perfect.”

Julia laughed as she read, “We’re just going to drop all attempts at subterfuge, then?”

“Yes. If it means saving someone’s life.”

Julia eyed her father. “I didn’t expect so much enthusiasm, but I suppose I should have.”

Ezekiel said, “We’ll try to be circumspect, but if we get backed into an unwinnable corner, then yeah. No more subterfuge. I’ve never seen a Quest with a timer on it, so this guy is obviously important to someone.” He added, “And it’s his life, which is more than enough reason to do this.” He frowned. “I’m not sure how best to transport a guy with an antirhine problem, though. Can’t be [Teleport]ed. Eh. Wrap him in a comfortable box and drag it behind on a chain, or something? Attach a flying spell to the other end of the chain, of course. But… Hmm… We did see a lot of monsters in the air over the mountains.”

Julia suggested, “Just go up high enough?” She looked to Odin, saying, “He did fine, didn’t he? Ah. But. Yeah. Thunder Birds. They hunt by sound, and Odin was light, so that just avoided the problem, but you can’t avoid this problem with an antirhine person dragging behind you. If they’re not themselves detected, then the box they’re loaded into, or whatever, would be detected.”

“Yup.” Ezekiel said, “Got it, exactly.”

Julia shrugged. “Just kill all of the Thunder Birds. Or Stop them; make them fall out of the sky. That was my original idea for bird hunting, anyway.”

Ezekiel nodded, then asked, “But how to find Tadashi?”

Julia laughed. “You know how.”

“Yes. But…” Ezekiel considered. “People would see that almost instantly… Though I could put it up well away from the mountains? Now there’s an idea.”

Paul said, “We should not take that chance. Someone would see it. Especially if people are searching for strange magical effects, which they will be. 5 points is a lot.”

“There’s always the manual way.” Tiffany said, “You have 10 Odin and [Witness], after all.”

Odin chirped in violin twangs.

Julia looked to Tiffany, saying, “Yeah, but surely they’ve tried those methods before?”

Tiffany shrugged. “Possibly. If it was us, we would have exhausted all the normal methods already. Including esoteric ones like [Shadowalk] hunting, and [Familiar]s geared toward searching. Honestly, there are so many ways to hide, and there are just as many ways to find. If someone doesn’t want to be found in the Tribulation Mountains they could dig a deep hole and you’d literally never find them.” She frowned, then added, “Or maybe not. There are probably horrible things living underground, too.”

“Yes, there are.” Ezekiel said, “But you have given me a [Familiar] idea, though.”

Julia countered, “I’m pretty sure that 10 Odin is very conspicuous.”

“Of course he is. Which is why I don’t want to do that.” Ezekiel decided, “Not a [Familiar], though. Something I can cast a hundred times. But… Hmm.”

“Point of order, again.” Paul said, “We should probably avoid rushing to find this guy. We are not prepared for such a thing, and —after asking around, just now— I am one hundred percent certain that Tadashi is already being searched for by every power in the area. 5 points is a lot, and this is their culture; they go for these Quests pretty hard.”

Ezekiel went silent, in thought. Tiffany and Julia finished off their bowls of congee, silently thinking. Paul did the same.

With her bowl empty, Julia said, “I still want points, but not if it’ll get us killed. This seems like something that they would kill over, especially if what that driver said is true; that Clans are able to legally murder whoever they want. If everyone is going after him, then we’ll be in their sights, too.”

Tiffany nodded. “Yeah. Hunting for that guy is a bad idea.”

Ezekiel decided that Paul was right. He wasn’t prepared for such a rescue, and Nelboor was full of war.

And looking over the spells he would have used to make a ‘[Searching Buddy]’, [Cascade Imaging] cost 500 mana. Combining that with [Conjure Force Elemental] to create a searching magic was only the barest idea of such a spell. This idea was already 510-plus mana. Such a working was economically nonviable. He needed a 50 to 150 mana spell, at the most. Something to flood a super large area with searchers.

And that base idea wasn’t even touching upon the other magics that he would want to put into such a [Searching Buddy]. Would he want a map to pop up where he was? Or would he want the conjured beings to report back to him, somehow? Or maybe they could just send a flare into the sky once they found the target?

Yeah. Paul was right.

He wasn’t prepared to find Tadashi, and even if he could be after an hour of brainstorming, the alchemist was already being searched for by all the major powers of the area.

- - - -

Ezekiel, Julia, Tiffany, and Paul, stood on the windswept plains northwest of Eralis where no one roamed but the breeze, and those looking for trouble. The mountains were still a few lightsteps away, full of monsters and money and at least one tortured alchemist.

The Quest had said that the man had vanished about a thousand kilometers in that direction, in the center of the South Central Tribulation Mountains.

So Ezekiel looked… to the left. Their monster hunting destination laid a good 900 kilometers south of Tadashi’s vanishing, two valleys over from where they had been yesterday. They shouldn’t run into any trouble with any bandits, or accidentally run into any scions or young masters searching for their 5-point prize.

Accidentally running into Tadashi was perfectly fine, but Ezekiel wasn’t about to encourage such reckless action.

… Maybe if no one found the alchemist by the end of the day, he would risk a [Cascade Imaging] to search for people, and then he’d check in on all of those resulting blue dots. But not before then.

Odin scouted ahead to the target valley. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary in the deep mist of that particular valley. No blooming fires. No wars happening right in front of Odin. No missing alchemists out in the open. There were monsters down there, of course, but that was expected.

With a light step, the four exiled members of Clan Phoenix were once again surrounded by mist.

The Mist Stone Gluttons attacked four minutes later.

In a particular ‘oh shit!’ moment, one of them managed to bite into Ezekiel’s thigh and claw up and down his side at the same time, before Ezekiel hit his emergency button and turned to light, letting the monster flow through him without so much as another point of damage. His thorny shield had stuck itself in the monster's jaw and thus prevented a lot of damage, but the monster was three times Ezekiel’s size, and thus more than able to claw around the tiny deflector.

Ezekiel had taken a claw to the face, directly on an eye, for a critical, and yet...

Killing that beast and the rest was a simple matter of a few more moments of effort. When Ezekiel came back to his body, he checked himself. His [Animadversion] had prevented most of the attack, while his [Personal Ward] had taken all the actual damage and his magenta armor mitigated most of that, anyway. The claw to his eye had scraped at nothing, inflicting no harm. Sure, he had taken damage, but that damage was all to resources that could regenerate. Ezekiel himself looked no worse for wear. His [Personal Ward] would need an hour to regenerate, but by his estimates, he could take another two or three full, direct attacks like that, and not be too worried. He would probably survive even if the monster got a better critical than it had.

And so! He had defenses. They worked. And if the monsters got through his defenses, he had Constitution to fall back on. Ezekiel was stronger than most threats, but threats were still threats.