A cheer erupted behind him, and Kaldalis knew that they’d all received their quest completions as well. It sounded like the whole town was celebrating, too. Not just those along the wall. And they had every reason to.

But Kaldalis still watched the mob of shimmering figures. They slunk off into the treeline and out of sight. It was only then he let out a sigh of relief.

It felt like he’d been fighting basically continuously for about three weeks straight. Thanks to the weird way the game seemed to spare him normal human limitations, he didn’t feel physically tired. But mentally? He was entirely drained.

Kaldalis didn’t even move as Haldir ran up to the splattered remains of the malum captain (which had been worth another twenty-five experience points) and literally dove into the slowly-spreading mixture of dirt and malum goop to retrieve a second tennis ball sized core from the beast’s remains.

Really, Kaldalis’ first instinct was to just hurl himself to the ground and pass out, now that the danger was passed. In the absence of physical fatigue, however, he knew he wouldn’t be able to sleep. The sun was still high in the sky, too. And there was a pack of adventurers at his back who were no doubt looking to congratulate him for his success in the fight.

He still needed emotional rest, though. Perhaps he could just sit down on the beach and stare blankly out at the ocean until he felt better.

Unfortunately, some people had other ideas about what he should be doing.

“Last chance to run,” Myrin said with a cheerful tone, although it was through clenched teeth.

Kaldalis looked over his shoulder to see that the camp’s gate had been opened. A handful of League engineers were examining the damage to the outside of the walls and the door.

Some adventurers had followed, waiting expectantly for the NPCs to figure out what supplies the camp needed to repair the defenses. They were the real heroes; Kaldalis didn’t know if he was going to be able to handle gathering-based fetch quests right now, so he was glad to see a dozen people ready and waiting to get busy on behalf of the good of the group.

He was less glad to see the sky blue vathon charging towards him with murder in her eyes. Despite Myrin’s words, Onirioago was too close now for him to evade. Unless he wanted to look like the fugitive she probably wanted to turn him into.

“If I thought you would stay down,” she snarled, voice low as she grabbed his arm and stepped in close, her face only inches from his, “I’d cut you down where you stand.”

“I don’t have it in me to play this game with you,” Kaldalis said with another heavy sigh. “I truly don’t understand why you’re so upset. What do you want from me?” He wanted to ask how he could make her go away as quickly and efficiently as possible, but no amount of mental duress could convince him that giving voice to that question was a good idea.

“You say you don’t have it in you to play games,” she said, turning and dragging him back towards the camp, the grip on his arm like an iron vice, “and yet you continue to play dumb? Do you think I’m a complete moron, or are you one?” She shook her head, a snarl on her lips. “Don’t answer that. I thought I saw potential in you. We could have been partners in this. Friends. Perhaps even more. But all of that melted away the moment you did black magic in front of every soul in this damned camp!”

“I hope you’ll pardon my French,” Kaldalis said, “but what in the everloving fuck is black magic?”

“Kaldalis!” A booming voice cut in. He looked up to see the huge frame of Garyung approaching, arms outstretched. “You son of a bitch! You have a knack for arriving in the nick of time, with salvation right behind.” The enormous bhogad grabbed Kaldalis by the shoulders, shaking him so hard that it broke the expedition leader’s grip on his arm. “How do you do it, buddy? I gotta know.”

“I just- I mean- I-” Kaldalis stammered between shakes. When Garyung finally stopped maneuvering him like a dog with a stuffed rabbit, Kaldalis continued: “I just find the tides and then turn them. Nothing complicated.”

Garyung let out a booming laugh, dragging Kaldalis into a headlock. The bhogad playfully wrestled with him as if they were old college friends. “That’s just like you,” he said loudly, “standing out by doing what comes natural.” The giant bhogad lowered his voice and said quiet enough that even Onirioago, right next to them, wouldn’t hear: “are you alright? Do you need me to get you out of here?”

“I’m fine,” Kaldalis matched the bhogad’s volume, grateful for the offered protection, “she’s just playing political bullshit with me. As long as it doesn’t escalate to murder, I can take whatever she’s throwing at me.”

“Gotcha,” he said before letting Kaldalis go. “Just try and be careful, bud. Your dodging was getting a little sloppy at the end there. Let me know if you need to spar a little to brush up on the basics.”

Onirioago cleared her throat loudly.

“Oh, sorry,” Garyung said quickly, “I didn’t mean to interrupt. I just wanted to make sure to carry the appreciation of the whole camp to you before you wandered off into the wilderness again without a word.” He turned towards the camp and raised his voice, yelling to get everyone’s attention. “Isn’t that right?”

An affirmative cheer went up from those gathered around the walls, and the archers still atop the walls, queued up for the ladders back down into the camp. There was no way even half of them knew what Garyung was even asking. The big bhogad must just have been a natural leader to have so many people willing to agree with him at the drop of a hat.

Onirioago made a gesture clearly dismissing Garyung, but Kaldalis could see the wheels turning in her head. Garyung returned to the camp at her direction, but the damage had been done.

People were paying attention. And the bhogad had reminded her very unsubtly that people considered Kaldalis a hero.

Regardless of what boundaries he had or hadn’t overstepped, Kaldalis had whirled in in the nick of time and put the safety of everyone else ahead of his own life. And now they were all reminded of it.

He owed his fellow tank a fruit basket for the assist.

“We need to clarify some things very quickly,” she said, grabbing his arm again. This time she dragged him away from the camp rather than towards it, apparently afraid of more interruptions. “I don’t have any idea what to do about this situation, and if it gets out of control, somehow the Contender himself will teleport onto my doorstep from whatever fucking hole he’s operating out of in Baimer. And if black magic is happening on my watch it’ll be the whole League under the axe. After my neck goes under first.”

“Alright,” Kaldalis said carefully, “so what is black magic?”

She gestured wildly at him. “Abilities that run counter to the natural order! Where did you come from that you don’t know that? Did they grow you in a laboratory or something?”

“I didn’t do anything weird,” he said quickly. “I just learned it from reading a magic tablet in the dungeon-” When her expression turned dark, Kaldalis frowned. “I’m not improving my case by saying that, am I?”

Onirioago pressed her lips into a harsh line. “You learned it, though?” she asked. “It came from somewhere physically on the island. It came from this world?”

“Yes. There was a tablet that told a story of the researcher who discovered the technique. Reading it prompted me to learn it.”

She looked away, scratching her chin. Onirioago was thinking, and Kaldalis was surprised that her wheels were turning in earnest rather than trying to think of a political spin to turn things in her favor. “This might not be black magic, then. If it is attached to a physical location - somewhere we can go and study - then it might be something else. Something new. We might be able to prove that it is a part of the natural order.”

It suddenly clicked with Kaldalis. Black magic was hacking. Or, rather, bug abuse, since hacking would be impossible to commit from inside of the most sophisticated VR system in the world. This Contender person was likely a GM or something. Especially if he was apparently teleporting to where infractions were happening.

“And if we can prove that it’s part of the natural order,” Onirioago continued, a glimmer in her eye, “then it goes from a dangerous liability to a powerful weapon. This could be the beginning of a new age for the League.”

Of course, there was the other shoe dropping.

“That’s what I wanted to talk to you about,” Kaldalis lied, “right when we returned. I wanted to speak with you about arranging for groups to venture into the dungeon. I wanted to offer the services of my party,” he paused, looking around and seeing Haldir, Myrin, and Balrim only a few dozen feet away, watching the exchange, but trying to stay out of Onirioago’s line of sight. “We’ve been through there and have seen… Most of the surprises. With one of us along, we can keep groups rolling through the dungeon regularly. We can get everyone access to this new power, making it easier to investigate.”

“I’ll arrange a meeting with my braintrust,” Onirioago said, “I want you and your friends there. You have a good idea there, but it needs to be refined. We need specifics hammered out. You have a gift for adventuring like few others, but what you need is the power of bureaucracy to work for you. I expect you’ll need the help of the League for that.”

Kaldalis stared at her, momentarily stunned. In all of his adult life he - Dylan, not Kaldalis - had wished for someone to say something like that to him. Ever since he got his CPA certification before starting his employment search for an accounting job - which honestly had been a joke, it was a meaningless certificate, not the real licence, but it looked good on a resume - everyone he’d ever met had automatically assumed that he was the most prosaic paper-pusher on the planet.

He had the mad urge to grab Onirioago and kiss her for thinking bureaucracy beyond him. Unfortunately, from her earlier behavior he was afraid that that might lead somewhere he didn’t want to go.

“Alright, just let me know when and where,” Kaldalis said.

“Twenty minutes, in the meeting hall,” she said, turning towards the camp, “it will take me half that long to get them together, but once they’re all in the same room it will take another ten minutes to get them all on topic.”

A bellowing roar came from the treeline and both of them whirled. Kaldalis didn’t remember actively trying to retrieve his spear, but it was in his hands before he was turned halfway around.

An enormous - but familiar - monster ripped its way out of the trees and started charging Kaldalis, its lanky arms reaching the ground as it propelled itself with both feet and claws.

It was the four-fingered syncoresi, bearing down on them. Blessedly, it was alone, but that was small comfort when he knew it would rend him limb from limb in seconds if he didn’t have help. As if to punctuate that thought, a new quest popped up on the right side of his vision, neatly replacing the quest that had just been completed with the end of the assault.

Nemesis’s Pursuit

Kill the Syncoresi Major (0/1)