P-03. Trial By Magic, page 32
part #3 of PrimeVerse Series
He screamed, this time not a roar, but an actual scream of pain. Then the scream morphed into a shout of fury as his face turned red again, another barbarian rage overtaking him. His muscles twitched and flexed as he slammed into the barrier over and over while the lightning ate away at him. Each blow caused the lines of magic between Madison and the townsfolk to flare, some of them dropping to their knees but still holding it in place.
Worry crossed Madison’s face as glowing lights formed in the air around her, and the electricity seemed to lessen in power. The townsfolk were fighting hard, beads of sweat on their faces, their teeth clenched, their fists balled.
Carl was slowing too, though, as the damage stacked up, the tornado of energy pummeling. Finally, he slumped to the ground, dead, his body smoking. Madison cancelled the spell, and sat down heavily, her helpers also falling to the ground in a heap.
“Well, I hope he bought that,” she said.
Chapter 40
“I was bluffing,” Madison said from the ground where she was catching her breath.
“What?” I asked.
“Bluffing,” she heaved.
“What!?” I asked again.
“Yeah, I mean, there’s some cool stuff for being a faction leader, but all the really good stuff comes if you have a node.”
“What!?” I asked again again.
“I got a quest to go capture a node that unlocks a ton of great stuff.” She shrugged. “But who knows when we’ll be able to go out.”
“Can you back up a little? How were you bluffing? That looked so cool, that whole magic light prison thing!”
“Oh yeah, I had no idea if that would work or not, actually.”
“WHAT!?” I asked again again again.
“Huddy, you’re starting to sound a little broken, do you have a brain injury?”
“No, I- I actually do have a lot of debuffs, do you think you could...?” I swirled my hand at myself to finish my sentence.
“Oh! Yes! Sorry!!” She jumped to her feet and dashed over to my poor, broken body, laying her hand gently on me and healing me. She continued to cast until my health was half full.
“I’m low on Mana after all that.” She waved vaguely toward where Carl had been. “Do you want your injuries healed or more health?”
I smiled at her. “Injuries please, I... hurt.” I cradled my broken ribs.
She nodded smartly and cast spells on me again, several of my debuffs fading and the Pain debuff, thankfully, dropping.
“That’s better,” I said, taking a deep breath that didn’t feel like dying. “Can you tell me what you were talking about now?”
“Right, well, as soon as the enclave got its upgrade, a system message popped up to become the faction leader for the Magic faction. When I accepted it, another message said that enemy forces were in our domain, and since they killed someone- you- war had been declared.” She stood and helped me up to my feet, too.
“One of the options in my faction leader skill tree was something that applied to our capitol building. Oh! The enclave is now our town’s capital building. Anyhow, the skill was called Physical Resistance, and it gave the capitol building a strong resistance to physical attacks. I picked it right away and called everyone into the enclave so we could try to form a plan and avoid this fun new respawn timer, and to get them to join the faction.”
“You got them all to join?” I asked.
“Yep, since we were all there it was easy.”
“What about the rest of the gromlins and stuff?” I asked.
“Those were trivial, really. We took them out even easier than last time since people were more experienced with spells. I was super proud of everyone.” Her face lifted at the thought. Her rosy cheeks and shiny eyes... I hope I made her proud, too.
“The problem was Carl,” she continued, a small frown forming from her lips. “He sent several of us to respawn while we fought the gromlins. After a few were killed, we all went into the enclave. He wasn’t working too hard to chase us down, but every time someone came close enough, he’d kill them pretty darned fast. He seemed really focused on destroying our town though.” She waved towards the town and I took in how much damage had been done.
Most of the houses had caved in roofs, and several with walls that were also sent inwards with the powerful attacks. Just about every building had gotten some damage, with the town hall taking the most, being almost completely rubbished. I slowly shook my head and shoved out a breath. What a waste. We had just nabbed the upgrade, and now it was all ruined.
“So I hate to say it,” I said, not wanting to add any more bad news, “but Carl mentioned something about needing to cause as much chaos as possible before Cora could take it over, to feed the Archon of Chaos.”
Madison surveyed the damage. “Yeah, looks like that’s what happened here.” She blew out a breath. “Gah! We didn't even get a chance to go in any of the new buildings.”
“That's what I said!”
“Huh? When?” she asked.
“That’s what I told Carl, you know what, never mind. Can we go check out the new enclave and you can tell me about the faction stuff?”
Her face lit up again. I’m pretty sure I’d do anything just to see her smile.
“Yes! It’s so cool! Come on!” She grabbed me by the wrist and pulled me along. It only hurt a little. A lot. Like death.
*****
We stood outside the new enclave which towered above us. I don’t know if it towered so much as it was simply the only two-story building around. Madison led me through the door, beaming. This was more than a pretty building to her; this was her life now. Her bread and butter. She had chosen this path, and created this enclave, and her pride was tangible.
As soon as I peeled my eyes off her and looked around the room we had entered, I was shocked. This wasn’t the same old enclave. This was something else.
It was by far the nicest thing I had seen in the game yet. Nicer even than pretty much anywhere I’d been on Earth. Sure, I’d been in some crazy places on Earth, but most of them were ruins.
Polished stone floors led from a large entry to several rooms. There were thick, white marble pillars spanning the length of the great hall to a door in the back that I assumed led to the courtyard. On either side of the door were sweeping stairs leading up to the second story.
To be entirely honest, it felt really out of place. Like walking into a whole different world.
Sitting in the entry were the townsfolk, kids, and mayor. Therese jumped up when she noticed us. “He is gone?” she asked, worry lines evident in her face.
I nodded. “Yep, thanks to your girl over here, and her team of, what are we now? Are we like all wizards or something?”
Madison shrugged. “Minuitt said that a bunch more prestige classes will probably be opened up because of this,” she gestured around the enclave, “and the things we’ll be able to learn here, so I guess? I don't really know. It sounds cool.”
“I prefer mages,” a lady with stringy black hair said. Maybe she was afraid we’d call her a witch.
I jerked my thumb at her. “Okay then, thanks to these mages and Madison, they sent Carl to respawn.”
“Well you helped,” Madison said. “You made a great punching bag until we got it all sorted out.”
I gave her jazz hands. “Yay, my favorite role in a group.”
“Focus. Please,” the mayor said.
“Right, sorry,” I said, flinching. Theresa’s lack of sense of humor had become even worse in her gromlin state. “Carl’s gone, I think the rest of the hostiles are taken care of. I don't see any on my mini-map.”
“Yeah, they’re gone,” Madison concurred. “I don't see any on my mega-map.”
“Mega- what?”
She winked at me with a smirk.
The mayor shook her head and rolled her eyes, which was shocking to watch considering how big they were. “Come, let's see the damage.”
“Actually, I’d like to show Hudson around here, he hasn’t seen the enclave yet.” Madison grabbed my hand.
The mayor nodded and motioned towards Graham, who brought the kids out with Sarah. Therese paused at the door. “Don’t be long.”
The rest of the townsfolk followed, and I could hear Therese organizing parties to get things cleaned up.
“Well, what's going on here?” I asked.
Madison stood in the center of the entry with both hands raised. Glowing sigils lit up across the floor. The light continued out from her, lighting unseen runes that had been carved into each of the pillars, glowing a multitude of colors. I didn’t know its purpose, but it was an impressive show.
“This...” Madison paused for effect, “is the new enclave.”
She pointed towards one door. “Through there is the study,” then another door, “the potion room,” she continued pointing to rooms, listing them off as the same sections within the old enclave, each one getting their own room this time. The last door, the one to the courtyard, led to the experiment zone, where new things could be tried without any actual physical repercussions.
We toured each room and I was very impressed. Madison was as giddy as a schoolgirl, and I loved how excited she was to share it with me.
The new library had a host of books I couldn’t wait to delve into, and learn from, I hoped. Every room was upgraded and so much cooler than the previous enclave, with room for several people to work in each.
“What's upstairs?”
“That’s the best part.” Her eyes shone. “I haven't even gone in yet, because we were in such a hurry, but there's a door up there that only I can open.” She bounced on her feet as she talked. “And we get to see it together!”
I reached for her hand. “What are we waiting for? Let’s go check it out!”
We climbed the curved stairs that led to a single, large door. The door had no handle, like the one on the previous enclave. It was a beautiful stone door with a rune of some kind, intricately carved across a large section of it.
As I approached, the rune glowed a soft white that changed to yellow, then orange, then red, before Madison put her hand on the door and the glow faded away. “Was that some kind of trap or something?” I asked.
Madison shrugged. “You could find out, if you die you could always respawn right here.”
“Ah, no thanks,” I said. “Gonna take a hard pass on that one. Besides, 24 hours, remember?”
“Spoil sport.” She entered the room, the door swinging open wide as if it had oiled hinges.
I followed her into the room. It was perfectly round, with windows going all around, offering a view of the town that reminded me of the view we had from our spot above the cave. The room contained a large glowing orb that looked like it was made of pure white light directly in the center. As if built around the orb, was an expansive, circular table, a smattering of chairs in a random pattern around it.
“It’s, like, a command center or something?” Madison wondered out loud.
She sat in one of the chairs and an area on the table in front of her activated into a glowing screen. She began tapping on it, and the glowing white orb flashed to a map of the town, similar to what my Illusory map looked like.
“Looks like you're not the only one with a cool map now,” she teased. She tried to expand it, but it wouldn't go any further, showing only the town. “Huh, can't see much, maybe it's just for town stuff?”
“Shouldn’t Therese be in charge of that?” I asked. “If you’re a faction leader, shouldn't you be able to see all of your territory or something?”
“Correct,” a voice said, coming from where the map was. We both jumped.
The orb morphed again, changing until it was a representation of Minuitt. “This room is your faction control center. It should have been something else more in line with the enclave, but I tweaked things a bit.” She gave a smug grin.
“Well, that's helpful... I think,” Madison said. “What can I do from here?”
“I don't have a lot of time, now that war has been declared I’m not even supposed to be here. But everyone is entitled to one visit when they become a faction leader. You can access most of your faction information from your own personal menus, but this room will allow you to do so while showing others, so you can make group decisions.”
“Ah okay, so it is a command center thing!”
Minuitt nodded. “Since you do not have a Mana node, there is a lot you cannot yet do, but you can pull up a map of your territory, which is quite small right now.”
“Yeah, I got that. So if I use this ‘hostile takeover’ ability, it expands my territory?”
“Exactly. Cora has been doing just that, growing her territory beyond the forest through the capture of respawn points. I would suggest you do the same.”
“Is that really important right now?” I asked. “We just got our shiny new town crushed by a single PC. Shouldn’t we focus on getting back to full strength?”
“My advice would be to secure your closest spawn points. For a couple reasons. The first; if you control a spawn point, it expands your territory and you will see a much larger area on your map. I assume you understand how that could be beneficial in war?”
We both nodded.
“The second reason you should take the spawn points; you will gain faction points to spend when you’re successful.”
“Faction points?” I asked.
Madison took a deep breath and spoke as she exhaled. “Yeah, faction points. They’re like XP currency for the faction that we can spend on abilities and stuff. It’s how I unlocked that ability I used to stop Carl.”
“What was that ability, anyway?” I asked.
“It was two actually,” Minuitt said. “She unlocked the Group Spell ability, allowing people of my faction to combine their magic ability to enhance the magic. It’s unique to my faction and was an excellent choice.” She smiled at Madison like a proud mama. “The second was a defensive spell, Mana Barrier, allowing the creation of barriers that use Mana to fuel them. Madison here turned it offensive right away with that little trick. Great work.”
“Thank you.” Madison gave a little curtsy.
“You're welcome. I need to go soon, but I wanted to give you advice to help you through the coming battle. After this, I won't be able to be in contact until the war is over. One way or another.”
“That’s seems pretty bass ackwards,” I said. “Why can’t you help with the war? When we’ll undoubtedly need you the most?”
“It was decided that the Archons needed to stay out of wars because we have access to too much information. It removes agency from you viators to have us calling the shots.”
I sighed. “Sure, you can’t help with the wars, but you can sure help get people into them, eh?”
Minuitt gave me a flat stare. “Complain as you wish Hudson, but this is your life now.”
“Sure sure, I get it. I don't have to like it, but it’s all I have. I’m not going to stop helping or anything.”
“He just likes to complain,” Madison said.
Minuitt shrugged. “It’s fine. Just know that I am trying to help. If you can get through this, things should calm for a while. If not, well, you can try again somewhere else.”
“Okay, okay, sheesh,” I said. “Sorry I said anything. Now what did you want to tell us?”
Minuitt gave a curt nod and turned her attention to Madison. “Several things; First, my faction buff grants you an increase in power to your spells, range, duration, damage- basically everything. It starts at 10% simply for the faction existing, then increases as your faction grows. Everyone that joins your faction- including those that already have- will open a new prestige class that should be useful based on knowing some magic and your faction choices.
“The second is this. You should know I am cheating by showing you this, but you need to understand the gravity of what you face.” She waved her hand at the glowing map, and the town began to shrink until it was a small oasis of light amidst the black fog of war.
On the map was a large swatch of small red dots, like tiny, marching ants, making their way towards the town. Hundreds and hundreds of them.
“This... is Cora’s army.”
Chapter 41
“It’s so big...” Madison gasped.
“That’s what she said,” I said mumbled under my breath, absentmindedly..
Minuitt actually laughed, and the image of the map dispelled. Madison glared at me. “Seriously? You can’t keep your mouth shut even for a second?”
“Sorry, habit.” I shrugged.
“It’s time for me to go,” Minuitt said. “If I stay much longer, Chaos will know. I’ll leave you with this: use your faction points well. Don't spend them on frivolous things like teleporting you or your troops, use them on lasting, powerful benefits.”
“We could teleport?!” I asked excitedly. Madison shot me a look that I could almost feel burning on my skin, before turning back to Minuitt.
“Thank you,” she said. “I hope we can talk soon.”
Minuitt gave a slight bow with her head. “As do I, faction leader, as do I.” She faded from view and we were left alone in the room.
Madison looked at me. I allowed the silence between us, waiting for her lead. She was tense, and I couldn’t tell if it was worry or frustration or both that plastered her face. Or maybe she was just really annoyed with me. After a few minutes, she broke the quiet.
“What are we going to do? How are we going to fight so many?” She leaned into me and I wrapped my arms around her, holding her close, with my head resting on hers.
“We’ll figure out something,” I said, pulling her in closer to me by the small of her back.
“We can’t just BS our way through this, Hudson,” she said. She was rigid and didn’t meld into me like she usually did.
“I know. Unfortunately, it’s my best skill.” I smiled down at her but didn’t get a smile back. She turned away from me.
