The eldritch artisan fat.., p.33
The Eldritch Artisan: Father of Constructs: Book 3 (LitRPG), page 33
Remaining Coins: 1,640
Chapter 28: Rewards
The roar of the Delve Boss’s destruction took forever to fade. It lingered, ringing in the air even as Felodin, Tabitha, Lucas, and Lyssandra emerged from the bolt hole.
Milly, her arm dangling by her side, stood thirty feet away on a pile of rubble, her expression dazed.
“Harvey? Reacher?” Tabitha called.
“There!” Felodin called, pointing across the room.
Moving quickly, the adventurers crossed the cavern. Milly, shaking off some of her confusion, found the strength to follow.
The mound of debris was massive, easily as big as a house. With a determined look, Felodin whispered a string of syllables. His hair electrified, lifting into the air as he summoned his magic. Amplified by the proximity of the ley lines, his spell took effect rapidly. Debris flew away, practically ejected from the mound.
Tabitha didn’t wait for the magic to finish. She rushed forward to claw the stones, pulling chunks aside. In seconds, her fingers were bloody.
“Tabby, dear bestie, you realize you’re just slowing me down?” Felodin gestured and telekinetic magic lifted Tabitha into the air.
She squawked in surprise, then demanded, “Let me go! I have to get to him.”
Limping over, Lucas took the scene in. Inhaling, he closed his eyes. A gentle golden glow, like a halo, surrounded his head. “He’s alive. Deep in that pile. Let Felodin do his work. Harvey’s likely more durable than all of us except maybe Milly.”
Tabitha protested, “He just acts tough! He’s just skin and bones. Don’t you understand? He could be suffering down there?”
The rubble abruptly shifted. Red and orange light burst outward, blasting through the stone as if it were made of paper. Reacher, his Esoteric Processor battered and dented, violently shoved stone aside and out of the way. The force of his effort sent rock flying through the air with the velocity of a cannon. Then, in a total change of demeanor, all fire and force left the construct as two of his arms lifted Harvey clear of the impact crater.
Tabitha gasped.
Harvey was limp in Reacher’s arms, his body utterly covered in blood. It looked like an entire section of his flesh had been scoured away, and burns covered much of his body.
“Lucas, are you sure he’s alive?” Lyssandra asked in a horrified voice.
“He is,” Lucas said.
Ignoring the exchange, Tabitha rushed over. Using two arms, Reacher began lowering Harvey to the ground, as if to lay him down for a nap.
Harvey sat up before the construct could put him down. His bloodshot eyes were empty, vacant, as if he wasn’t seeing anything.
Seeing his face, Tabitha said, “He’s blind. The boss’s blood must have gotten into his eyes.”
Reacher made a sound like wire snapping.
Putting a hand down on Reacher’s hand, Harvey squeezed one finger gently. The construct adjusted his hold, aiming Harvey in the direction of the Delve Monitor. It had reappeared at some point after the fight and hovered in the center of the chamber.
With an effort of pure will, Harvey came to his feet. He shook and nearly slipped in the blood that had pooled inside his miraculously intact boots. Then he took a step, and then another.
Tabitha and the rest of their party froze with expressions of mixed awe, horror, and confusion on their faces.
“I can see bits of his ribs poking out of his back,” Lyssandra said, turning away from the gruesome sight. “How is he even alive?”
No one replied.
Harvey bumped into the Monitor. Fumbling with one shaky hand, he put his palm in the grooves along the top of the floating orb.
Text appeared in the air, along with a crystal clear, beautifully emotionless voice, “Speak your prize, Father of Constructs.”
Despite his blindness, Harvey extended a hand unerringly to point at Reacher. “Give my boy a soul. He’s earned it.”
Reacher went still. Then he rushed forward, one hand frantically gesturing. No! No! Thumbs-Down! He pointed at Harvey emphatically. For you. Not for me. For you!
The Monitor replied. “To grant a construct a soul is the very pinnacle of magic. It combines creation in all forms. This thing you ask is possible. However, a soul cannot be created from nothing. Would you sacrifice a piece of yourself to grant this creation a soul? We must warn you, there will be no material benefit from doing this. If anything, granting the construct you call Reacher a soul would only make it weaker for the difficulties we suspect you will face next.”
Harvey didn’t hesitate. “A father don’t need nothing to give life to their child. I accept.”
No! No! Reacher was almost at the Monitor, but it was too late.
A sound like a bell chimed through the chamber as a wave of pressure rushed up through the floor and into the Monitor. Rainbow light, braided together into a single cord, shot out. It sped into Harvey, then through him. Spanning the distance to Reacher in a breath, it struck one of the construct’s hands.
Hyper-saturated light sparked, wrapping around the giant six-fingered hand, then jumped off to cover another hand, and then another, and another. In a matter of seconds, all but one of Reacher’s hands was covered in a vibrating tangle of esoteric magic. The eighth hand, the one with the injury, was only lightly coated, as if the missing mass limited the effect.
“Prepare for the transfer,” the voice intoned.
Reacher’s Esoteric Processor was battered and warped. Bits of it were missing, with entire furnace flaps having been lost during the past months of Delving. Yet still he managed to create a single utterance. The word “Noooooo!” filled the air like a plea.
Ignoring the begging, the DM continued its work. esoteric pressure redoubled as it drew on the fundamental magic of the world. Seven of Reacher’s hands jerked, writhing as if to fight what was happening, or maybe as a consequence of having part of Harvey’s soul grafted to them.
Harvey stood there, sightless, hurt beyond all reason, and smiled through his broken lips. “My boy,” he whispered to himself, inaudible to anything other than Reacher or the Monitor.
The Monitor…paused. “Father of Constructs, I apologize, but I am unable to complete this request.” Reacher’s hands jerked as the magic wrapped around them drew away, retracing its reach back through Harvey’s chest and into the floating object.
“What?” Harvey turned, joyful expression cracking. “Why not? You promised. Any one request, as long as it related to constructs. You said so. Are you breaking your word?”
The Monitor spoke in that same emotionless tone, yet it was gentler now, subtly altered. “We cannot create what already exists. Harvey, your bond with this being has given it what all the magic in the world would struggle to replicate. Reacher already had the kernel of a soul. Eight souls. With the tiniest part of your reward, we have nudged this along. When you reach your sixth level, the bond between you and this construct will be something far deeper than anything normally shared between a familiar and its summoner.”
“Already had a soul?” Harvey repeated dumbly. “How?”
“It’s a legendary construct, made by one of the great minds of its time. Reacher must have always had the capacity. Your love acted as the transforming force. Only the Father of Constructs could do such a thing as you have done, Harvey.”
Tabitha, who had crossed the distance during the conversation, spoke up, her voice thick with emotion. “You said you used the tiniest part of his reward. What are you going to give him with the rest?”
“Why do you always phrase requests to us like a demand, child?” the Monitor replied. Its emotionless voice taking on a tinny edge. “We were getting to that.”
She smirked but didn’t reply.
The voice chimed. “Harvey, to replace what you should have been given, we will grant you a pinnacle power. Prepare yourself.”
Every bit of discarded magic, the entirety of what should have granted Reacher his soul, wound around Harvey, bathing him in a coruscating flare of rainbow light.
Notice: You have been granted the knowledge of True Creation. You have been given all the perquisite skills and knowledge to use this ability. Limitation: Because this gift would destroy your mind, the knowledge has been locked away. It will become unshielded in stages, granting you gradual insights as you acquire either the levels or intellect to not have an aneurism from obtaining the knowledge. The final secrets of this power will only unlock upon reaching level fifty. Limitation: This gift does not grant you any secondary knowledge, skills, or tools you will need to wield it. You will learn the esoteric patterns to create life from inanimate objects, but not how to create the tools with which to create those objects. Without strife and struggle, there is no purpose. Congratulations, Father of Constructs: the objectives you will seek now far outstrip anything you could have expected.
The words filled the air of the cave, floating there for the party to read. Felodin looked down as a black gauntlet, covered in swirling symbols appeared on his arm. Descriptive text appeared in the air directly in front of him.
Gauntlet of Secondary Shadows: You have gained a Gauntlet of Secondary Shadows. It allows you to create a second Shadow Clone at no extra magic cost or strain. The Clone must be of a different magical type than the first. This is a legendary-tier item. Limitation: The duration of the Bending hangover from creating the shadows will be doubled in duration.
Scowling, Felodin pointed at the air. “I get a gauntlet that makes me act like a jerk, and he gets all that?”
Tabitha snickered. “You see the part where it just incentivized him to get to an impossible level right? There aren’t fifty Oases left on the planet.” As soon as she finished saying the words, a golden light burst from her eyes and mouth. Her skin glowed as esoteric symbols, like metallic tattoos, etched themselves on her body.
Inherent Esoteric Template: Tabitha, you now passively generate esoterica within your body. You may use this as a magic source for any of your abilities, or to fuel others. The amount of magic you can transfer is reduced depending on the distance of the transfer. Touch can amplify it. Limitation: You’re covered in tattoos that radiate pure magic. That’s going to have some fun consequences, we’re sure.
“Hey!” Felodin shouted. “She gets to become the coolest person ever and all I got was this gauntlet?” He waved his hand around.
“Coolest person ever?” Milly asked as she settled into place with the rest of them.
“She’s practically an Esoteric Elemental now. Tabitha can fuel magic spells just with her touch. She can bypass all sorts of anti-magic limitations. It’s not fair!”
Milly’s armor glowed.
Armored Titan: You may activate this ability once a week. While it is active, you cannot die or become unconscious. Effects that would bind or restrict your movement fail. This effect lasts 10 minutes. Limitation: When this effect ends, you stop being immortal. This means you can die from the injuries you’ve suffered. Be careful.
“Okay, I definitely feel better now.” Felodin chuckled. “At least I didn’t get Suicide Armor.”
“I think it’s got potential,” Milly replied. “Especially now that we’ve got a healer in the party.” She nodded toward Tabitha.
Okadin appeared in a puff of magic. The hawk screeched as his body doubled in size. Purple and silver runes appeared on his plumage.
Epic Familiar: Okadin is now an epic-tier familiar. You have gained several familiar-based abilities due to this. Use your screen to review them. Limitations: None. It’s a familiar. If it dies, you lose access to the associated powers until it’s been resummoned.
Before Felodin could comment on the reward, the rubble shifted again. Rock rolled together, assuming the shape of the defeated Boss monster. It shrank, diminishing from its previous size until it was barely eight feet tall. A chain of light appeared, striking Lucas in the chest. The other end sank into the monster.
Monstrous (Boss) Familiar: Lucas, you have gained a boss familiar. It will obey your commands until it suffers grievous injury, at which time it may lash out indiscriminately. If killed, you must wait 24 hours to summon it again. Limitation: This is a monster. Don’t mistake it for Okadin or Reacher. This being has no soul, no heart, and no compassion. No, you cannot ‘love’ it into having any of those things. This isn’t a fairy tale.
“That bit at the end is really snarky,” Lucas muttered, glancing over his screen to read the benefits of having the new familiar.
With those rewards given, the Monitor pulsed with light once more. “As promised, the reward for good work is more work. To fight the Continuum and earn Harvey an opportunity to spend his discretionary experience on additional attribute enhancements, you must travel down this tunnel. It will take you from the Delve. You will not be able to Delve again until this quest is complete.”
With a gentle rumble, a black tunnel appeared in a wall. It sloped downward.
Lucas sighed with relief. “I vote we wait here and recover. I swear, if I never see another Delve again, it’ll be too soon.”
“What? And give up the chance to earn more cool stuff?” Felodin waved his gauntlet in the air. It produced shadowy afterimages in its wake. “Look at this!”
Clearing her throat, Lyssandra waited for them to look her way before tipping her head toward Harvey.
The Monitor hadn’t healed him. At some point, the gray-haired man had collapsed on the ground. His breaths were coming in long, ragged pants, as if he were running a marathon in his sleep.
“I’d just wave that away, but that actually looks serious,” Felodin said.
The group rushed over. Reacher and Tabitha beat them there.
As they attended Harvey, the DM spoke one last time. “We will provide twelve hour access to a sanctuary. Use it wisely.”
A second arched doorway opened next to the tunnel. Warm fire licked through the opening, inviting them in. Standing inside the opening was a gorgeous, grey-skinned woman wearing a form-fitting gown that hugged her curvaceous body to excellent advantage.
“Is that a real succubus?” Milly asked.
The woman smiled. She had dimples. “That I am. I came for Lucas.” Extending a claw-tipped hand, she gestured for the party to enter the safe room. “Come in. I’m a caretaker. I’m not allowed to hurt anyone who enters my domain. Unlike my guests. Isn’t that right, Lucas?”
If Lucas had seemed miserable before, he looked positively ghoulish now. “Hello, Jessica.”
Ignoring Lucas and the strange monster, Tabitha carried Harvey inside. “Come on. Harvey needs water and medical attention.” Reacher followed.
Interlude: Saboteur
Wren crouched at the nexus between four hallways, deep within the Continuum facility. It had taken her hours to get this far. She’d come across surprisingly few Voices in her travels but remaining entirely undetected had taken all her skill. Fortunately for her, it seemed the creatures had no methods to sense her or her concealing magic.
They didn’t think we’d infiltrate them, did they? She thought to herself in a disapproving tone. Good to know our enemy can be sloppy.
The orange light of konovium came from off to her left, bright enough to project the outline of a robed silhouette against the fleshy tissue of the closed door.
She looked down at her dagger, considering whether to move forward with her plan. Capturing konovium and using it to blow up the cannons was a good option. A very Harvey option, she added fondly. With one of the mages in the room, she decided to change the plan.
Sticking to the shadows, she moved into a new chamber. It was domed and round, with organic-looking pods lining the walls. Crossing to the closest, she leaned over to peer inside.
The lid was semi-transparent, allowing her to see one of the tentacle-faced people lying within. She thought it was a man, but it was hard to tell. These beings were of humanoid shape, but small and without the normal characteristics she associated with gender.
A screen appeared on top of the pod, providing her with a portal-like view into another place. It revealed an opulent room, with a window looking out toward an ocean. A fleet of esoteric ships filled the horizon. From the perspective of the screen, it seemed like she was engaged in a conversation with someone with bright blue hair. The person was well-dressed, suggesting royalty or, at least, high importance.
The perspective changed. In a blurring, dizzy second, she saw a flash in a reflection along a wall. “She” looked like a man wearing a colorful, embroidered suit.
Puppeteers! That reality, and the opportunity it presented, screamed at her. Looking around, she saw no signs of defenders. There was a door at the far end of the room, however.
Maybe they have an observation crew in there? Or security? Unwilling to act without adequate surveillance, she moved to the door. It slid open with a touch, revealing another of the pod chambers, with yet another doorway on the far side.
Gripping her magical knife tightly, Wren hurried through, rushing from room to room until, after twenty minutes, she came to the end of the puppeteering chambers.
There were no signs of guards at all.
Picking a pod at random, she walked over and tried to open it.
The lid swung up at her touch. The creature inside seemed to slumber, eyes darting back and forth. Its head was connected to a mesh of intricate, organic wiring that plugged into an elaborately crafted esoteric sigil.
She thought, I normally admire audacity, but not having security to protect their spies is a truly unfortunate oversight. Ah, well. Some lessons cost more than others.
Tugging off her telekinetic gloves, she opened her clutch and retrieved the red ones. Those would increase the damage her critical strikes dealt on unaware victims. And they are far more appropriate for this work, she thought primly. A woman of decorum always knew how to match her wardrobe to the situation at hand.
As she studied the pod a final time, preparing to begin her work, she saw yet another opportunity. The wiring and sigils weren’t affixed to the back of the pods. She could probably remove them.
Chapter 28: Rewards
The roar of the Delve Boss’s destruction took forever to fade. It lingered, ringing in the air even as Felodin, Tabitha, Lucas, and Lyssandra emerged from the bolt hole.
Milly, her arm dangling by her side, stood thirty feet away on a pile of rubble, her expression dazed.
“Harvey? Reacher?” Tabitha called.
“There!” Felodin called, pointing across the room.
Moving quickly, the adventurers crossed the cavern. Milly, shaking off some of her confusion, found the strength to follow.
The mound of debris was massive, easily as big as a house. With a determined look, Felodin whispered a string of syllables. His hair electrified, lifting into the air as he summoned his magic. Amplified by the proximity of the ley lines, his spell took effect rapidly. Debris flew away, practically ejected from the mound.
Tabitha didn’t wait for the magic to finish. She rushed forward to claw the stones, pulling chunks aside. In seconds, her fingers were bloody.
“Tabby, dear bestie, you realize you’re just slowing me down?” Felodin gestured and telekinetic magic lifted Tabitha into the air.
She squawked in surprise, then demanded, “Let me go! I have to get to him.”
Limping over, Lucas took the scene in. Inhaling, he closed his eyes. A gentle golden glow, like a halo, surrounded his head. “He’s alive. Deep in that pile. Let Felodin do his work. Harvey’s likely more durable than all of us except maybe Milly.”
Tabitha protested, “He just acts tough! He’s just skin and bones. Don’t you understand? He could be suffering down there?”
The rubble abruptly shifted. Red and orange light burst outward, blasting through the stone as if it were made of paper. Reacher, his Esoteric Processor battered and dented, violently shoved stone aside and out of the way. The force of his effort sent rock flying through the air with the velocity of a cannon. Then, in a total change of demeanor, all fire and force left the construct as two of his arms lifted Harvey clear of the impact crater.
Tabitha gasped.
Harvey was limp in Reacher’s arms, his body utterly covered in blood. It looked like an entire section of his flesh had been scoured away, and burns covered much of his body.
“Lucas, are you sure he’s alive?” Lyssandra asked in a horrified voice.
“He is,” Lucas said.
Ignoring the exchange, Tabitha rushed over. Using two arms, Reacher began lowering Harvey to the ground, as if to lay him down for a nap.
Harvey sat up before the construct could put him down. His bloodshot eyes were empty, vacant, as if he wasn’t seeing anything.
Seeing his face, Tabitha said, “He’s blind. The boss’s blood must have gotten into his eyes.”
Reacher made a sound like wire snapping.
Putting a hand down on Reacher’s hand, Harvey squeezed one finger gently. The construct adjusted his hold, aiming Harvey in the direction of the Delve Monitor. It had reappeared at some point after the fight and hovered in the center of the chamber.
With an effort of pure will, Harvey came to his feet. He shook and nearly slipped in the blood that had pooled inside his miraculously intact boots. Then he took a step, and then another.
Tabitha and the rest of their party froze with expressions of mixed awe, horror, and confusion on their faces.
“I can see bits of his ribs poking out of his back,” Lyssandra said, turning away from the gruesome sight. “How is he even alive?”
No one replied.
Harvey bumped into the Monitor. Fumbling with one shaky hand, he put his palm in the grooves along the top of the floating orb.
Text appeared in the air, along with a crystal clear, beautifully emotionless voice, “Speak your prize, Father of Constructs.”
Despite his blindness, Harvey extended a hand unerringly to point at Reacher. “Give my boy a soul. He’s earned it.”
Reacher went still. Then he rushed forward, one hand frantically gesturing. No! No! Thumbs-Down! He pointed at Harvey emphatically. For you. Not for me. For you!
The Monitor replied. “To grant a construct a soul is the very pinnacle of magic. It combines creation in all forms. This thing you ask is possible. However, a soul cannot be created from nothing. Would you sacrifice a piece of yourself to grant this creation a soul? We must warn you, there will be no material benefit from doing this. If anything, granting the construct you call Reacher a soul would only make it weaker for the difficulties we suspect you will face next.”
Harvey didn’t hesitate. “A father don’t need nothing to give life to their child. I accept.”
No! No! Reacher was almost at the Monitor, but it was too late.
A sound like a bell chimed through the chamber as a wave of pressure rushed up through the floor and into the Monitor. Rainbow light, braided together into a single cord, shot out. It sped into Harvey, then through him. Spanning the distance to Reacher in a breath, it struck one of the construct’s hands.
Hyper-saturated light sparked, wrapping around the giant six-fingered hand, then jumped off to cover another hand, and then another, and another. In a matter of seconds, all but one of Reacher’s hands was covered in a vibrating tangle of esoteric magic. The eighth hand, the one with the injury, was only lightly coated, as if the missing mass limited the effect.
“Prepare for the transfer,” the voice intoned.
Reacher’s Esoteric Processor was battered and warped. Bits of it were missing, with entire furnace flaps having been lost during the past months of Delving. Yet still he managed to create a single utterance. The word “Noooooo!” filled the air like a plea.
Ignoring the begging, the DM continued its work. esoteric pressure redoubled as it drew on the fundamental magic of the world. Seven of Reacher’s hands jerked, writhing as if to fight what was happening, or maybe as a consequence of having part of Harvey’s soul grafted to them.
Harvey stood there, sightless, hurt beyond all reason, and smiled through his broken lips. “My boy,” he whispered to himself, inaudible to anything other than Reacher or the Monitor.
The Monitor…paused. “Father of Constructs, I apologize, but I am unable to complete this request.” Reacher’s hands jerked as the magic wrapped around them drew away, retracing its reach back through Harvey’s chest and into the floating object.
“What?” Harvey turned, joyful expression cracking. “Why not? You promised. Any one request, as long as it related to constructs. You said so. Are you breaking your word?”
The Monitor spoke in that same emotionless tone, yet it was gentler now, subtly altered. “We cannot create what already exists. Harvey, your bond with this being has given it what all the magic in the world would struggle to replicate. Reacher already had the kernel of a soul. Eight souls. With the tiniest part of your reward, we have nudged this along. When you reach your sixth level, the bond between you and this construct will be something far deeper than anything normally shared between a familiar and its summoner.”
“Already had a soul?” Harvey repeated dumbly. “How?”
“It’s a legendary construct, made by one of the great minds of its time. Reacher must have always had the capacity. Your love acted as the transforming force. Only the Father of Constructs could do such a thing as you have done, Harvey.”
Tabitha, who had crossed the distance during the conversation, spoke up, her voice thick with emotion. “You said you used the tiniest part of his reward. What are you going to give him with the rest?”
“Why do you always phrase requests to us like a demand, child?” the Monitor replied. Its emotionless voice taking on a tinny edge. “We were getting to that.”
She smirked but didn’t reply.
The voice chimed. “Harvey, to replace what you should have been given, we will grant you a pinnacle power. Prepare yourself.”
Every bit of discarded magic, the entirety of what should have granted Reacher his soul, wound around Harvey, bathing him in a coruscating flare of rainbow light.
Notice: You have been granted the knowledge of True Creation. You have been given all the perquisite skills and knowledge to use this ability. Limitation: Because this gift would destroy your mind, the knowledge has been locked away. It will become unshielded in stages, granting you gradual insights as you acquire either the levels or intellect to not have an aneurism from obtaining the knowledge. The final secrets of this power will only unlock upon reaching level fifty. Limitation: This gift does not grant you any secondary knowledge, skills, or tools you will need to wield it. You will learn the esoteric patterns to create life from inanimate objects, but not how to create the tools with which to create those objects. Without strife and struggle, there is no purpose. Congratulations, Father of Constructs: the objectives you will seek now far outstrip anything you could have expected.
The words filled the air of the cave, floating there for the party to read. Felodin looked down as a black gauntlet, covered in swirling symbols appeared on his arm. Descriptive text appeared in the air directly in front of him.
Gauntlet of Secondary Shadows: You have gained a Gauntlet of Secondary Shadows. It allows you to create a second Shadow Clone at no extra magic cost or strain. The Clone must be of a different magical type than the first. This is a legendary-tier item. Limitation: The duration of the Bending hangover from creating the shadows will be doubled in duration.
Scowling, Felodin pointed at the air. “I get a gauntlet that makes me act like a jerk, and he gets all that?”
Tabitha snickered. “You see the part where it just incentivized him to get to an impossible level right? There aren’t fifty Oases left on the planet.” As soon as she finished saying the words, a golden light burst from her eyes and mouth. Her skin glowed as esoteric symbols, like metallic tattoos, etched themselves on her body.
Inherent Esoteric Template: Tabitha, you now passively generate esoterica within your body. You may use this as a magic source for any of your abilities, or to fuel others. The amount of magic you can transfer is reduced depending on the distance of the transfer. Touch can amplify it. Limitation: You’re covered in tattoos that radiate pure magic. That’s going to have some fun consequences, we’re sure.
“Hey!” Felodin shouted. “She gets to become the coolest person ever and all I got was this gauntlet?” He waved his hand around.
“Coolest person ever?” Milly asked as she settled into place with the rest of them.
“She’s practically an Esoteric Elemental now. Tabitha can fuel magic spells just with her touch. She can bypass all sorts of anti-magic limitations. It’s not fair!”
Milly’s armor glowed.
Armored Titan: You may activate this ability once a week. While it is active, you cannot die or become unconscious. Effects that would bind or restrict your movement fail. This effect lasts 10 minutes. Limitation: When this effect ends, you stop being immortal. This means you can die from the injuries you’ve suffered. Be careful.
“Okay, I definitely feel better now.” Felodin chuckled. “At least I didn’t get Suicide Armor.”
“I think it’s got potential,” Milly replied. “Especially now that we’ve got a healer in the party.” She nodded toward Tabitha.
Okadin appeared in a puff of magic. The hawk screeched as his body doubled in size. Purple and silver runes appeared on his plumage.
Epic Familiar: Okadin is now an epic-tier familiar. You have gained several familiar-based abilities due to this. Use your screen to review them. Limitations: None. It’s a familiar. If it dies, you lose access to the associated powers until it’s been resummoned.
Before Felodin could comment on the reward, the rubble shifted again. Rock rolled together, assuming the shape of the defeated Boss monster. It shrank, diminishing from its previous size until it was barely eight feet tall. A chain of light appeared, striking Lucas in the chest. The other end sank into the monster.
Monstrous (Boss) Familiar: Lucas, you have gained a boss familiar. It will obey your commands until it suffers grievous injury, at which time it may lash out indiscriminately. If killed, you must wait 24 hours to summon it again. Limitation: This is a monster. Don’t mistake it for Okadin or Reacher. This being has no soul, no heart, and no compassion. No, you cannot ‘love’ it into having any of those things. This isn’t a fairy tale.
“That bit at the end is really snarky,” Lucas muttered, glancing over his screen to read the benefits of having the new familiar.
With those rewards given, the Monitor pulsed with light once more. “As promised, the reward for good work is more work. To fight the Continuum and earn Harvey an opportunity to spend his discretionary experience on additional attribute enhancements, you must travel down this tunnel. It will take you from the Delve. You will not be able to Delve again until this quest is complete.”
With a gentle rumble, a black tunnel appeared in a wall. It sloped downward.
Lucas sighed with relief. “I vote we wait here and recover. I swear, if I never see another Delve again, it’ll be too soon.”
“What? And give up the chance to earn more cool stuff?” Felodin waved his gauntlet in the air. It produced shadowy afterimages in its wake. “Look at this!”
Clearing her throat, Lyssandra waited for them to look her way before tipping her head toward Harvey.
The Monitor hadn’t healed him. At some point, the gray-haired man had collapsed on the ground. His breaths were coming in long, ragged pants, as if he were running a marathon in his sleep.
“I’d just wave that away, but that actually looks serious,” Felodin said.
The group rushed over. Reacher and Tabitha beat them there.
As they attended Harvey, the DM spoke one last time. “We will provide twelve hour access to a sanctuary. Use it wisely.”
A second arched doorway opened next to the tunnel. Warm fire licked through the opening, inviting them in. Standing inside the opening was a gorgeous, grey-skinned woman wearing a form-fitting gown that hugged her curvaceous body to excellent advantage.
“Is that a real succubus?” Milly asked.
The woman smiled. She had dimples. “That I am. I came for Lucas.” Extending a claw-tipped hand, she gestured for the party to enter the safe room. “Come in. I’m a caretaker. I’m not allowed to hurt anyone who enters my domain. Unlike my guests. Isn’t that right, Lucas?”
If Lucas had seemed miserable before, he looked positively ghoulish now. “Hello, Jessica.”
Ignoring Lucas and the strange monster, Tabitha carried Harvey inside. “Come on. Harvey needs water and medical attention.” Reacher followed.
Interlude: Saboteur
Wren crouched at the nexus between four hallways, deep within the Continuum facility. It had taken her hours to get this far. She’d come across surprisingly few Voices in her travels but remaining entirely undetected had taken all her skill. Fortunately for her, it seemed the creatures had no methods to sense her or her concealing magic.
They didn’t think we’d infiltrate them, did they? She thought to herself in a disapproving tone. Good to know our enemy can be sloppy.
The orange light of konovium came from off to her left, bright enough to project the outline of a robed silhouette against the fleshy tissue of the closed door.
She looked down at her dagger, considering whether to move forward with her plan. Capturing konovium and using it to blow up the cannons was a good option. A very Harvey option, she added fondly. With one of the mages in the room, she decided to change the plan.
Sticking to the shadows, she moved into a new chamber. It was domed and round, with organic-looking pods lining the walls. Crossing to the closest, she leaned over to peer inside.
The lid was semi-transparent, allowing her to see one of the tentacle-faced people lying within. She thought it was a man, but it was hard to tell. These beings were of humanoid shape, but small and without the normal characteristics she associated with gender.
A screen appeared on top of the pod, providing her with a portal-like view into another place. It revealed an opulent room, with a window looking out toward an ocean. A fleet of esoteric ships filled the horizon. From the perspective of the screen, it seemed like she was engaged in a conversation with someone with bright blue hair. The person was well-dressed, suggesting royalty or, at least, high importance.
The perspective changed. In a blurring, dizzy second, she saw a flash in a reflection along a wall. “She” looked like a man wearing a colorful, embroidered suit.
Puppeteers! That reality, and the opportunity it presented, screamed at her. Looking around, she saw no signs of defenders. There was a door at the far end of the room, however.
Maybe they have an observation crew in there? Or security? Unwilling to act without adequate surveillance, she moved to the door. It slid open with a touch, revealing another of the pod chambers, with yet another doorway on the far side.
Gripping her magical knife tightly, Wren hurried through, rushing from room to room until, after twenty minutes, she came to the end of the puppeteering chambers.
There were no signs of guards at all.
Picking a pod at random, she walked over and tried to open it.
The lid swung up at her touch. The creature inside seemed to slumber, eyes darting back and forth. Its head was connected to a mesh of intricate, organic wiring that plugged into an elaborately crafted esoteric sigil.
She thought, I normally admire audacity, but not having security to protect their spies is a truly unfortunate oversight. Ah, well. Some lessons cost more than others.
Tugging off her telekinetic gloves, she opened her clutch and retrieved the red ones. Those would increase the damage her critical strikes dealt on unaware victims. And they are far more appropriate for this work, she thought primly. A woman of decorum always knew how to match her wardrobe to the situation at hand.
As she studied the pod a final time, preparing to begin her work, she saw yet another opportunity. The wiring and sigils weren’t affixed to the back of the pods. She could probably remove them.
