timewalk

  Aliandra

  Ali stared in amazement at a smithy transformed. She and her friends had stopped by Thuli’s smithy to get some repair work done on Mato's armor, and Ali had wao che to see how Kavé was doing in her nerenticeship, but as soon as they entered, Ali had to stop and stare. She had thought it transformed the st time she had stopped by to introduce Kavé and Thuli, but what she found was on another level.

  The entire smithy was . It sparkled. And there was a distinergy, a productivity, a deep sense of purpose to the room, seen ihing from the carefully stacked iron ingots to the anized dispys of swords and daggers on the walls. Even the ringing of the hammer striking the anvil in the back felt like the sounds of something important being crafted. She wrinkled her the fresh tangs of molteal and almost summoned a barrier as a great arc of green sparks shot across the floor. How did it even smell healthier? Someone was whistling.

  As Ali gazed through the arched opening into the back, she saw Kavé striking at a piece of red-hot steel with a heavy hammer while Thuli stood beside her instru and pointers. Kavé pursed her mouth and whistled again, raising the hammer with a cheerful yet focused air.

  Bcksmith – Dragonkin – level 6 (Steel)Bcksmith – Dwarf – level ?? (Ember)

  She’s growing fast! Either she was w very hard, or Thuli was a gifted teacher. Or both, she corrected herself hastily.

  “See how the mana is all snarled up here? We li up better.”

  “Like this?”

  “Aye, and now use your steel shaping thten it out a little more.”

  “Ok, this one see it now…”

  “Just remember to put ya bato the strike, otherwise it won’t do anything. Snarls like this be stubborn.”

  Kavé belted the visibly glowing piece with a powerful strike that sent sparks skittering across the stone floor, and Ali saw the mana bending from the skill-assisted hammer blow.

  “Aye, that’s it right there. Why don’t ya finish up this sword and I’ll go greet uests?”

  “Yes, Thuli,” she said, turning to gnce back through the archway and then grinning and waving as she caught sight of Ali and Mato.

  “Hi Aliandra,” Thuli said, a beaming grin on his face as he emerged from the sweltering room, waves of shimmeri slowly fading from his body as his magic slowly ebbed away. He nodded a greeting to the others as he caught sight of them.

  Of all the things that had ged, the smile on the previously grumpy Dwarf’s face was the greatest. Ali was stu how much more vigorous ahy he looked, and the spring in his step as he walked over was unmistakable. She couldn’t help grinning in response.

  “What happeo you?” Ali asked, returning Kavé’s wave before she returo her project.

  “I paid off my debt today!” Thuli decred. “And it’s all thanks tenerosity.”

  “I didn’t think we gave you enough steel to pay it off pletely.”

  “I made a breakthrough studying those pieces. It’s not Eimuuran steel yet, but it was enough to nd a ission from the Garrison ander’s office for a rge order of swords. And I got a couple of levels from disc the process.”

  He retrieved a sword from his ste and showed her.

  Firefed Sword – level 28 (Fire)Damage: Sshing, Physical, FireAdded Fire damage on hit.+24 Strength.Requirements: Strength 98Created by Thuli.One Handed – Sword – Firefed Steel

  The sword bde was silver with the unmistakable reddish glow of fire mana. Ali was no expert, but it looked quite impressive.

  “You made a magic-grade sword for the garrison guards?” Ali asked. She was guessing the grade by the number of entments, but it seemed a fairly reliable oo make. “Yoing to be popur. Well done!”

  “Aye.” Thuli wrinkled his rge nose, making his beard shake. “It’s a little too good, perhaps.”

  “What do you mean?” Mato asked.

  “The other bcksmiths are vinced I have an out-of-town sponsor. They’re even trying to get Hadrik Goldbeard to force me to give up your identity. Fortunately, we Dwarves are stubborn by nature, and he hasn’t caved to their demands.”

  “I see,” Ali said, handing the bde ba. “Yes, I’d prefer to remain anonymous if possible.” She was just happy to see his success had secured his fe and smithy for the foreseeable future.

  “Of course, ssie.”

  “How is Kavé doing?” Ali asked, watg the fasating flow of silvery strands of steel mana she was w in the background.

  “That girl is amazing! She is such a hard worker, she learns fast, and her css is incredible. She will easily surpass me one day, mark my words. She camped in the ba, she never pins, and she polished the entire smithy on her first day. I mean just look at this pce!”

  Ali smiled at Thuli’s proud boasting about his apprentice, happy to see that the two of them were getting along well.

  “Don’t tell the ss, I want it to be a surprise, but she will get her first paycheck at the end of the week,” Thuli finished, with a happy smile. “Anyways, I’m sure ya didn’t e by for a spot of idle chitchat – what I do for ya?”

  “I was w if these might be useful for your studies?” Ali asked, pulling out two newly created Eimuuran Darksteel daggers – copies of the ones she had learned in the armory yesterday. She also id out some pte armor pieces, a sword, and a shield.

  Thuli’s eyes wide the sight of all the Eimuuran steel on his table. Carefully he ied each piece, stopping in surprise at the daggers. “I didn’t know the teiques could be applied to Darksteel. This is really something.” He looked over at Ali. “Yes, I definitely use this, and I even pay ya this time.”

  “Bonus,” Mato deadpanned.

  Thuli shot him a filthy look. “Maybe I’ll test your head with my hammer, d!”

  “A jest, a jest,” Mato chuckled, holding out his hands peaceably. “I’m just gd to see this fe bubbling and g again.”

  “Not like hitting him in the head would do anything anyway,” Malika muttered, just loud enough for everyoo hear.

  “Hah!” the Dwarf snorted.

  “ you include the cost of repairs for Mato’s armor?” Ali asked. They haggled over the price for a little, but Ali trusted him, and so they came to a rather quick agreement, after which Thuli took Mato aside to begin w on his armor.

  The din of hammering ceased, and Kavé appeared from the ba, ying the finished sword oable before she came over to Ali.

  “This one has a gift for you,” she said using Draid then immediately vahrough a side door, emerging a few moments ter with a wooden tray with several pots on it, eae growing a small jasmi. Ali instantly reized it by the beautiful st of the tiny white flowers.

  “What is this for?” Ali asked, surprised by the ued gesture.

  “This one has a css, and a teacher, thanks to you. The herbalist boy, Basil, said this would be a gift you might like.” Kavé spoke quickly with a fidgeting that betrayed her ay at the gift. “Do you like it? This one loves the st of jasmine, and Basil said you would learn to grow it.”

  “I love it, Kavé, thank you!”

  The dragonkin girl smiled with a few too many sharp pointy teeth showing, but Ali was already used to her Kobolds, and she simply smiled back.

  “This one would like to see it… yic?” Kavé asked eagerly.

  “Of course,” Ali answered, maing her Grimoire at ond destrug each of the pnts.

  Imprint: Ivy updated to Imprint: Creeper.Variant: Jasmine added to Imprint: Creeper.

  With a thought, she poured mana into the new variant and created a new jasmi in one of the y pots.

  “Yic is beautiful,” Kavé excimed.

  “Thank you,” Ali answered.

  “Aliandra, why does your Draic sound like a Kobold?” Kavé asked, gng bad forth as if someone might overhear.

  Blunt and direct. Ali didn’t feel threatehough, it was more that the girl was simply extremely straightforward. Ali answered in kind, “I lear from a Kobold.”

  “This one give you lessons, it is not good to speak like a Kobold.”

  “Ok,” Ali smiled. Language lessons sounded fun.

  “Kavé, let’s see your sword,” Thuli said, his booming voiterrupting their versation, and Kavé rushed back to the table to retrieve her work and show it to him, standing anxiously by while he ied the on.

  “Good job,” he finally decred. “ime I will show you how te it a little stronger by using more heat in the final step. Now, why don’t you put these Eimuuran pieces in the safe and I’ll show you how to study them ter.”

  Kavé bowed and collected the items, barely able to ceal her excitement as she touched the steel, a flicker of her silvery mana caressing it as she rushed off to pack them away.

  Mieriel

  Mieriel gnced up from her work at the sounds of footsteps approag. It was te, and the guild was quiet – the perfect time for catg up on her administrative chores. She smiled at the sight of Vivian striding across the hall, but the instant she stepped onto the carpet, a roiling, gloomy sense of despair mingled with fury crashed up against her Empathy skill and her smile shriveled up and blew away.

  Oh no. Not again. “Who?”

  “Kelvin,” Vivian said, her face stony and eyes hard. She dropped herself into the seat in front of Mieriel’s desk with a grunt, not b to keep up the fa?ade of the leader in the quiet of the empty guild hall. “Killed in his bed.”

  “So, the Silent Assassin is real?” Mieriel asked, but she knew her question was redundant. This was the third victim now.

  “The same calling card and same method of death,” Vivian said. “And they’re targeting us.”

  “Why?” While Vivian looked angry, the chaotic emotions rolling off of her told a far more personal story, the despair tinged with frustration and hurt.

  “This has Hawkhurst’s stench all over it,” Vivian said curtly. “It must be retaliation for ging my vote to Brand for the cil’s defense budget.”

  “Should I…” Mieriel began, and then she swallowed. In a town like Myrin’s Keep, it would be suicide to get caught digging around with her skills. She and Vivian had agreed she should keep a low profile after the st time. But… Aliandra… What she and Vivian had doo that girl still g her. It was ohing to take a stand for dangerous csses, but if she became the very nightmare people feared…

  “I don’t want you to risk yourself…” Vivian said, but the surge of hope that blossomed within her heart was as clear as a lighthouse in the night.

  “I’ll do some scouting at the usual haunts,” Mieriel said softly, catg her breath.

  “Please be very, very careful,” Vivian said.

  She just nodded, pag away her papers. Am I looking for redemption? She shuddered; irely sure she deserved it.

  ***

  Mieriel crossed the street aered the alleyway. It was dark, and most certainly not a safe neighborhood. She lifted the hem of her dress – her favorite of Lydia’s creations – to avoid dragging it through the filth that covered the cobblestones. She had not been here in ages, but her nose wri the unfettable stench which had not improved o sihe st time.

  A shadowy figure moved in the darkness up ahead, turning suspicious eyes her way. She fed just a little more mana to her Inspicuous Presend felt the man’s eyes slide across her as if she was no more than another battered trash littering the dark recesses of the alley before he moved on to whatever nefarious purpose brought him out at this hour.

  She paused in a dark alcove across from the entrao the Crooked , waiting for the sounds of his footsteps to fade away. This was her third stop for the night. I hope I find some clues about who’s behind this Silent Assassin.

  She hated that her css was most useful for situations like this – where risky covert work was the st line before disaster or death. Vivian regurly ran interference for her with the Town cil – there were several people with high enough levels to resist her magid identify her css. By voug for her, Viviahem from turning her over to the . Iurn, she would ferret out information for Vivian wherever it y – from the extravagant parties of the o the seediest dens of thieves and assassins.

  This bar is a little more of the tter than the former, she thought, having grown progressively more jaded over the years as her activities had taught her that the worst of the crime in this toened not in the slums, but in the fancy parties, perpetrated by those with wealth and power, and few morals.

  Her awareness slipped briefly into her ste entment, finding the items she required, and then with a deft trick – one honed over many hours of deliberate practice, a trick that had saved her life several times – she instantly switched her elegant gown with the outfit of a barmaid and walked across the street to the bar. By the time she scaled the three short stairs, she had settled into her practiced barmaid disguise, including readying the substituted notifications she would broadcast to any minds that used Identify.

  She paused at the rickety wooden door with its garish yellow paint. From prior visits, she khis fiablishment to be bankrolled by Kieran Mori, a front that served as a meeting pce for the more illicit circles of the Myrin’s Keep underworld. Taking a sharp breath to steady herself, she pulled open the door and stepped in, colliding with the acidic stench of vomit and ale. The raucous noise of drunk patrons and the chaoti of emotional energy washed over her Empathy skill as she pluhrough the feelings of the room.

  Reflexively, she reached out with Misdirect Attention, direg the lecherous i of several drunk patrons back to the buxom waitress at the back, and feeding her Inspicuous Presence a bit more mana to make it stick. Then she walked over to the bar and picked up a rag and a tray with several mugs of ale on it.

  A room full of drunk people was scarcely a challenge for her – only the bartender required her full attention before he toot she existed. But this was not her target – the real a in the Crooked took pce downstairs. She strode fidently – airely unnoticed – across the filthy wooden floor of the bar and took the stairwell leading downward.

  The door was guarded, but as usual, it was a rogue with a pitifully low wisdom attribute and too much faith in his mediocre stealth skill. Mieriel could easily pick him out by the sound of his breathing and the stench of alcohol on his breath. Sometimes Heightened Perception was more of a bahan a boon, f her to ehe man’s foul reek. Even without her enhanced senses, his emotions bubbled over like a pulsing bea, revealed to her via Empathy.

  She simply walked forward and opehe door, running Inspicuous Presence tinuously while ving his mind that he was vastly more ied in the noise from above than her, and he might as well just fet she had been there with a deft application of her Misdirect Attention and Memory Coer.

  Low css level, and worse, low wisdom. Pshh.

  She slipped through the door and emerged into the basement area, alert for any signs that someone had noticed her. A few patrons huddled over half-filled tankards, but it was a quieter, broody atmosphere, a dark pce where semi-legal – or often dht illegal – deals might go down in an alcove over an untouched ale. She had been here many times over the years, and she knew her way around.

  The sudden sense of surprise caught her attention, but she trolled her rea. Slowly, she turned, holdiray of ales up, and caught the eyes of a bck-cloaked man staring in her dire.

  Rogue – Human – level ?? (Surprised)

  She pulsed her mana into Misdirect Attention, while simultaneously walking over and pg an ale in front of someone arieving the empty mug. She had discovered very early on that her magic worked even on those much higher level than her own, provided she looked, and acted, the way they expected. She was dressed as a barmaid, ag as a barmaid, and now her Misdirect Attention reached out to instruct his mind to notice she was only a barmaid, and tet what he had just seen with his Identify skill. She smiled demurely in his dire and wiped dowable perfunctorily before he shook his head auro sing the rest of the crowd suspiciously.

  Inwardly, Mieriel breathed a sigh of relief before she tinued on her assing the jobs board which was the purpose of her visit. While a barmaid studying jobs suitable for thugs, thieves, and assassins would break character, she simply g the board and memorized it by using her mind magi herself – the simple trick of reversing her Memory Coer skill to force her mind to remember. The picture of the entire job board appeared in her mind and would remain there, avaible for her to look at for several days if she wished.

  Carefully, she tio make her way around the room, keeping up her ad straining her senses.

  “What do you think of this Silent Assassin business?” someone murmured.

  Mieriel’s ears pricked up instantly, and she slowed her feet. In a dark alcove, two hooded figures were hunched over, spilling tension into the air.

  “Shh! Do you want to get us killed?”

  “What are you talking about?”

  “Do you remember Jen was going to find out about the Silent Assassin?”

  “Yes.”

  “He turned up in an alleyway with a spear through the heart like fresh meat on a skewer.”

  “Mori…”

  “Shut up, you fool! Do you want to get impaled?”

  The argument was beginning to draw attention, so Mieriel sidled off, slipping out the door aurning up the stairs. She dropped the tray off at the bar a, beginning to walk home while carefully examining her haul in her mind.

  The board had taihe typical mishmash of illegal activities, annous famblis, trade of illicit goods and sves, bounties for assassinations, oods to be ‘acquired’ by any means. There was nothing explicit about the Silent Assassin or…

  Suddenly she stopped, airely ued job posting catg her attention.

  Bounty Notibsp;

  Quest Giver: Undisclosed.Rank: Broegory: Assassination.Reward: 1 gold per mark (escrow).

  Mark: Aliandra Amariel – Female Mage, Fae, green hair, amber eyes.Mark: Malika – Female Monk, Human, Torian dest, dark hair and skin, blue eyes.

  Both marks are members of the Adventurers Guild, wanted for the killing of Adrik and Edrik.

  Aliandra and Malika. Putting out a hit or a tra someone was still illegal even in Myrin’s Keep. But the undisclosed name did not fool her in the slightest. This is Kieran Mori’s establishment. And it was his style, too – she had not the slightest doubt about that.

  Shit.

  It was just about the worst time for this. Vivian was still uain about Aliandra, and now there was a tract out on her life by her than Kieran Mori – the captain of the Town Watch.

  I must tell Vivian immediately. And we o warn Aliandra and Malika – their lives are in grave danger. She frowned momentarily. It was just that Mieriel had no idea how Vivian would react. What if she won’t tell them? Vivian had good reason to fear dungeons, and Aliandra was that. But a horrid, twisting queasiness gripped her gut at the thought of hurting Aliandra again. No, she thought, firming her lips as if framing the statement she would make to the stubbuildmaster. I will tell them, no matter what.

  Aliandra

  Ali and Mato returo their ne in the library, arriving before Malika and who seemed to be taking much longer with their errands. Mato busied himself with the cookfire, leaving Ali to her own devices.

  The library still felt desote and dark, her domain marating only a little past the doorway where she had grown some moss. The rest of the space still y much as they had found it when it was guarded by the Skeletal Wyvern – bone shards and yers es and spines coated most of the avaible surfaces, and whatever wasn’t covered y shattered and decayed in the cloying darkness.

  Only ohing seemed to have improved – there had been no bone worms or bone skitterers ever since she had severed part of the dungeon’s mana by destrug the spire.

  I’ve got some time, she thought, staring up at the s shelves, walkways, and broken dders along the walls. And I have a new pnt imprint to try out. This pce could certainly do with being spruced up and smelling a whole lot better.

  With a sense of purpose, she set to her task. Hopping up on a jured barrier disk, she summoned her Grimoire and flew off to the s inner wall and the thousands of a shelves carved into the stone. Levitating on her barrier, she began growing her new jasmine up the walls, trailing wherever the dders and walkways had been. Every time she ran out of mana, she simply destructed several shelves worth of encrusted bone and decayed books and then tinued. After a while, she alternated with ivy before returning to the beautiful flowers and st of the jasmine.

  By the time she had finished with the outer wall of the upper level, most of the first ses had already established her domain mana. She hovered near one, deg to try her new Domain Mastery skill. Reag out with her will, she found she could target quite a substantial area of the encrusted bone. She simply visualized ging its structure to a whole lot of unected tiny particles and the entire broad se of encrusted bone colpsed, falling as dust to the ground below.

  Much faster than destru, she thought marveling at how little mana it had taken. She flew bad forth repeating the process to quickly reveal the wall and the shelves beh the bone. I just destruct the piles of bone dust ter.

  Ali repeated the process, growing her ivy and jasmine up the inner walls and pilrs surrounding the atrium. She even included the spiral stair. As soon as her domain mana ihat space, she turned all the boo dust, watg it fall away into the darkness at the bottom of the atrium.

  I ’t really see much, she thought. But she had a skill now that could solve that problem. Once again flying around on her barrier she created a ring of barrier panels suspended in the air around the rim of the atrium. It was a simple matter to extend her barriers to be rge enough and anchor them to the mana of her domain, so she didn’t have to maintain them. She tilted them to provide better lighting for the space. Aah, so much more tasteful, she thought as the golden glow illumihe upper library level. I wish I could create real books to fill the shelves.

  Hmm, I think I want more pnts. She selected the chapter for her stone imprint and began to summon granite. Her imprint did not allow enough ization, but when bined with Domain Mastery, she was able to quickly sculpt the stoe pnters filled with powdered rock. After that, it was a simple matter to fill them with Blue Mana Grass, on Glo mushrooms, and Verdant Moss – all her affinity pnts that geed her domain.

  Inspired by her success with the stone and Domain Mastery, Ali began experimenting with her green marble stone variant and her Sculpting skill. Digging through her memories, she began to create statues of various creatures she had seen her father summon, using the green marble as her medium and Domain Mastery as her chisel to sculpt. The green marble was a geous stone for sculpting, and particurly suited for the nature-themed creatures she was making.

  “Oh, I love it!” Malika’s voice broke her tration, and she gnced over to find her friend had returned and was smelling the jasmine flowers ad the walls.

  “I like the lights,” added, nodding appreciatively.

  “The statues are the coolest,” Mato decred. “Also, lunch is ready. A Beastkin ot live o aromas alone.”

  “Wow, is there a girlfriend we o know about?” Malika needled at once.

  Mato turned a fine shade of tomato-red. “Nht, ?”

  “You just he right girl to smell your cooking,” he said, making a swooniure with his fingers.

  “Ali, how about you start? These jokers obviously aren’t hungry,” Mato suggested.

  Ali realized she was starving. Using lots of mana seems to make me very hungry. As she sat to wait for Mato to dish up food, she remembered something. Oh, hold on, didn’t I get a notification a few minutes back?

  Curious, she sent her awareness inward, calling up the notifications.

  Grove Warden has reached level 32.+10 attribute points.

  Are Insight has reached level 19.Are Bolt has reached level 16.Barrier has reached level 25.Runic Script has reached level 15 (+3).Domain Mastery has reached level 4 (+3).

  What the… when did those levels sneak up on me? Ali realized that her work in the library must have paid off handsomely, giving three levels in her Domain Mastery skill. The long hours of re-inscribing her cure poison circle while they extermihe undead wherever they could root them out in the ruined city provided a substantial boost to her Runic Script, and one more very wele css level. Without waiting, she spent five points on wisdom to grow her mana pool, and then three on intelligehe final two points went to perception, noticeably improving the crity of her mana sight.

  And with that, time to eat!

  timewalk