The Ninth Seat

  "Evidence. No report since the last one. Regional base of operations, found occupied by dark elven warriors. Teleportation square, non-functional. Conclusion. Fayd is dead. Logical."

  The Mastermind's response was measured and calculating. His personality had shifted, again, for the second time since I took this seat. Fayd had delivered the news of some devastating failure, and he witnessed a change for the first time…and the last, for him at any rate. I theorized that whenever something happened that broke The Mastermind's worldview, the current personality would delete itself and a new one would supplant it. Sort of a defense mechanism, for without absolute certainty of his own infallibility The Mastermind could not function. Therefore in order to protect himself from permanent damage, he would simply invent himself anew.

  "Yes, Mastermind." I said, "I am sorry."

  He spoke slowly, drawing out each word ponderously. "His failure was…regrettable, but predictable under the circumstances. The inside man must have elected to end him, as predicted in situation B. That he does not live any longer is…irrelevant. It will take many long years to formulate a new plan for that region - however, a new plan shall be forged. It is inevitable. Leave me. I require time to calculate - do gather more intelligence while I ponder and report if anything important should come under your notice."

  I bowed, and quit myself of the chamber.

  Illiana

  I've never seen Sir Victor this happy before! He was worried about running out of fuel for the longest time and, now that the Cadillac's been transformed into an amalgamation of sorcery and engineering, it's like the whole world had suddenly opened up to him. I'm glad too. I hope that he'll continue to take me with him on these wonderful adventures. I want to see the world - starting with such parts of this, the Midain Continent, that I've yet to see. Maybe we'd even meet up with mother - surprise her, and perhaps we could go visit the Dragon Sea area and visit Archmage Mihoshi's people.

  Ah and then there's the lands beyond the Southern Cross, where they grow maize, and the Alfino lands nearby! So many possibilities. Of course, until the mastermind was dealt with we couldn't do anything of the sort. But, soon we would be well on our way wouldn't we? Yes, just a little longer right?

  I want to stop the Black Order - I want them to no longer be able to hurt anyone else. I want Juliette to be able to raise her baby in peace, along with that wolf-ears adventurer who'd been so happy to learn he was about to be a dad. Which is why…yes.

  I'll follow Sir Victor to the very end.

  Victor

  The trip back to Caer Caradon was easy enough. So while we were there we actually dropped off Meli - she pouted but we really couldn't afford to take her into such a dangerous place. I'd also stopped by the adventurer's guild to see about delivery quests all the way through Balero and Hylaria, and my goodness, was I surprised to find Juliette havin' a baby bump! Well I gave my sincere congratulations and picked up a grand total of three courier quests, all iron rank due to the distance. The Shadar'Kethal gal, Chiyorielle, also had a report for us: she was able to secure us a map of the part of the ruins that some party'd made years ago, and now we knew exactly where to go!

  After thanking her and checking up on the horses, we saw no reason not to set out immediately - well I mean of course we took some provisions out of our warehouse just in case and it should go without saying that I bought meat for the first night's grillin'. We were already on the road when Sylfaena informed me that she could use ice magic to keep the meat fresh longer - okay, I’ll have to remember that for next time.

  So what was it, four hundred miles as the crow flies between Caer Caradon and the Gaian Waste? That's a trip to Houston and back; easy sauce, and still shorter than a round trip to watch a Rangers home game. So I was honestly tempted to slow down and sightsee for a while, but eventually I decided to wait until this whole deal with the mastermind was over - everyone agreed. Don’t worry, I’d go back to Hylaria on a later adventure so I’ll spare ya the big details.

  The only stops we made were for deliveries. There was one in Balero - a principality, neighboring two other principalities; a box of documents. The other two were in Hylaria, and we decided it would be best to take the extra time to go around the Wilderlands. The kingdom of Hylaria was one of lush plains and rolling hills with plenty of bridges to cross the rivers that criss-crossed the land. This was wine country, too, and according to the princess this was one of the places that she had personally set up a trade deal with on her last journey before meeting me.

  Hylaria City was a walled settlement much like Caer Caradon had been, but while Caer Caradon had been flat, Hylaria climbed up a hill, culminating in a grand citadel at the end of the city; one could stand upon the outer wall and see the valley below. From what I understood, Hylaria's king was a fair and just one, as far as kings went, and they were making a lot of efforts in that whole "defending humanity against evil" thing. We didn't linger more than an hour or two here; of course we wanted to try some of the food and stretch our legs out, but we weren't dragging our feet either. There was a main branch of the adventurer's guild in Hylaria City too, so we checked in while we were in town.

  Then we turned north and left Hylaria Kingdom proper, going into the Gaian wilderness. Not a wilderland, just an unclaimed land that had once been the capital province of the Gaian empire - not the physical center of the continent-spanning empire, but certainly the seat of political power. A river ran northeast to southwest and the majority of the city was on the north bank. The place we were going first, however, was a town further downriver; outside of the waste. It was on the opposite bank from the city, but they maintained a stone bridge across the river; a bridge supported by arches no less. In fact you could march a whole army across it if you wanted to.

  The more Gaian remnants I saw the more Roman-like they appeared to my eyes; eh probably no big deal. I stopped to check out the bridge and, wouldn’t you know, it was almost certainly the same sort of concrete I’d seen whenever I visited Rome myself.

  “Where’d they get this material, I wonder,” I muttered.

  “Legend has it,” said Mal, “That the first emperor was attempting to duplicate elvish whitestone. So he scoured the continent for ingredients and employed gnomish alchemists to produce what you see here.”

  That was interesting to know but, we had to press on. Fortuna was a basic-looking town with no defenses to speak of, only a small militia force and of course the adventurers who frequented it. We picked out a decent looking Inn with a carriage house and secured ourselves two rooms: one for the ladies, one for the gents, of course. While Sylfaena and Nenewyn went to buy supplies and gather information, the rest of us went to head to the adventurer's guild for a special purpose: Red Lightning was going to form an alliance with another party.

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  We only really cared about survival here, not guild cred, so instead of an official alliance we were going to find a party willing to come with us on our own fool's errand. Forging an alliance required the presence of at least two official members, one of whom must be the party leader, to be present for the purposes of drafting the agreement. All three official members were present, so we were good on that account if we did end up needing to do something official. We needed a melee heavy group, one desperate for magic support and healing.

  There were a lot of people to choose from; so much that the three of us each had the opportunity to speak to different party leaders. Mal was speaking to a big burly human-ish warrior, an almost giant sized man with slightly green skin, whose party consisted of an elf man in a green robe and a human woman with an impressive bow; I would later learn that his people are called Brucians and that they came from another continent entirely. The princess was speaking to a very himbo-lookin paladin in shiny armor sitting next to a volumptuous half-elf sorceress with black hair; these two were obviously dating judging by how close they were sitting.

  I on the other hand reckoned I'd hit paydirt. Sitting with me was a pale-skinned red-haired woman, taller than even Charlean had been. Her eyes were blue and icy, with the piercing gaze of a warrior. A warrior indeed she was, for she had an impressive two-handed sword leaning against the table, though she wasn't wearing armor - rather I'd describe what she had as a hide halter top. Hell, even the princess' corset would have offered better protection.

  "You," I said, "I suppose your name is Sonja?"

  She shook her head, "No. That name yes from my land, but is no mine." Her common was awful. "I am Rayna, what you called?"

  "Victor Alexander Kirkland, from Texas. Forgive my asking, but is Common not your first language?"

  Her cheeks reddened and her eyes looked away, "You are having right."

  I smiled, "How about you talk to me in your native language," I tapped my forehead, "My healer has a power that lets me understand."

  She seemed surprised, then smiled, and said "I thank you, kind sir. It's been quite a long time since I was able to speak Nordian to anyone, for none of my companions can understand it either. Though, they have taken to using my people’s curse words quite well. I can understand you well enough, but I could never seem to grasp the speaking part. Our lands are so remote that your empire never reached them, so the Common you all speak was never adopted."

  As I thought, much more eloquent in her own language. "How come it never got that far?"

  She took a moment to consider, mentally translating no doubt. "The dragons, linnorms, and frost giants mainly," she didn't seem to be kidding. "Our warriors of eld would have made short work of them even if the monsters didn't make food of them first."

  "Warriors indeed - you are one yourself, I presume,"

  She nodded, "Yes. I fight using the Dragonwrath style - because I have stronger legs than arms, I favor swings that use my hips for leverage. Quick footwork to cut my opponents down. And yourself?"

  Wow! So like certain German styles or even Japanese Kenjutsu.

  "I'm a mixed attacker." She understood that, thank God for standardized party roles. "In melee I either use a large knife or an arming sword, favoring agile maneuvers. I wear brigandine armor with light chain and gambeson underneath. Do you not wear armor?"

  She clicked her tongue, "Certainly not on a hot day like this, and when it isn't necessary, such as when we're having a conversation in the middle of a peaceful town."

  I rubbed the back of my neck sheepishly, "Oh, right."

  "I wear a magic breastplate capable of resisting fire, but with no mail layer, plus greaves, gauntlets, and bracers. My sword is enchanted, too, and made of a special magically conductive alloy."

  "What's that used for?"

  She smirked, "Ask the mage who's been glancing at the table for some time now, perhaps she can explain it better than I."

  Sure enough the princess was distracted by our conversation; actually she seemed a bit uncomfortable with that group. Oh, were they being weird? Oh, yeah, the sorceress has her hand on the paladin’s thigh - I think it got weird. I motioned for her to come over and join us. After casting Comprehension on Rayna, she curtsied.

  “I am Illiana Verissa tael Anaura, fourth princess of Anaura. I’m a mage and priestess both with a focus on healing and wind.”

  "A princess, huh?" Rayna nodded, "Well, that isn't unheard of where I come from; I'm fairly certain that the high king's daughter is still running around somewhere. I’m Rayna, Fire-Hair they call me."

  "Pleasure to meet you, Miss Rayna! Um, is your sword made out of orichalcum?"

  "Not wholly," Rayna said, "it's an alloy of it though; it doesn't take much orichalcum to create the desired effect."

  The princess' eyes sparkled, "Sir Victor! If we channel aspected magical energy into it, her attacks would get significantly stronger! Each swing could be charged with fire, ice, lightning, or even holy power!"

  I was impressed, but, still I wanted to hear more, "What of your other party members?"

  "I have two. Both are fighting-men. One is a defender, a human knight-errant from Hylaria. The other is a half-elf mixed attacker who fights with the Twinfangs style and a longbow; he isn’t as strong as the Hylarian but he’s very quick."

  She lowered her head, somberly, "We lost our mage last time we went in, and our priest quit adventuring after witnessing that horror. We used to fight with two of us in the front, magic-users in the center, and one in the rear. We wish to recover our friend's body if possible, then we quit this place and seek prey in a less…accursed place. What can you tell me about the rest of your group?"

  At this point I tossed a peanut at Mal and waved him over, he bowed to the others and sauntered over.

  "Yes?" He said sitting down.

  "We have a winner, I think," I said.

  "Very good," said Mal, "those three were beginning to bore me," he flapped a hand dismissively, then he introduced himself to Rayna with his usual aplomb.

  "A trickster…this is good. There are many hazards in that place, nobody knows who built those traps, but they exist all the same."

  Mal said, "Ahh, that ruin has been gutted and repurposed for centuries - it was a city-sized dungeon from the start but then ambitious wizards, cultists, and recluses started carving out hideouts for themselves. That seventh emperor loved to build labyrinths, you see, even under his own capital, and some others carried on the work. But moving on, there is also the matter of the others."

  I tapped the air, "Ah yes. So in addition to our three official members, we are joined by two other elf mages on an important mission from King Illorend II himself. One, who happens to be her sister, is a wizard specializing in fire and ice. The other favors protection and support type magic."

  Rayna nodded, "With a total of eight, we should be able to handle anything inside as long as everyone is at least tin-rank in terms of overall ability."

  The princess said "We are tin-ranked ourselves, yes, and I can assure you that both my sister and Nenewyn are at least good enough to be on par with a bronze rank adventurer."

  "I am satisfied then. Let us proceed. Can you and yours be ready in two days time?"

  “Yes, that sounds reasonable,” I said.

  We shook hands - and thus did Red Lightning form an Alliance with The White Wolves!