Being captured by ambiguous thugs down a back alley was not Maya’s idea of a good time. Problem was, she couldn’t analyze what she couldn’t see, and even with Truth Sight active she couldn’t make out who she was facing, nor how many of them there were.

She hated to waste her minimal remaining energy on it, but she had to make a plan and had to act fast.

Maya snapped her fingers, igniting a Spark to illuminate the area. Hers was much brighter than the ambusher’s had been, illuminating the area enough to see her opponents.

Cleric

Health: 80

Will: 20

Stamina: 92

Energy: 92

Brawler

Health: 100

Will: 20

Stamina: 108

Energy: 69

Five total. Three merla, two lizardine. One cleric, four brawlers. Their stats were all roughly in the same range, though the one female merla cleric taking the lead was probably more dangerous. Maya hadn’t met any clerics in the game yet. She had no idea if they were a classic healing type or something else, but she did know that her best bet was probably to take the magic-user out first.

Maya could finish off the one brawler she'd already attacked, whose health was at 54, with her remaining energy and a thrown knife or two. But even if she put her full focus on taking out the cleric, she couldn't manage it. At least not quickly and unexpectedly. In a long drawn-out fight, she'd be outnumbered and unlikely to survive long enough.

What she wouldn’t give for an energy-restoring potion or five. It didn’t reassure her that her own health was currently exactly the same as the cleric’s.

The two lizardine thugs were swinging their nets. Maya had no time to analyze. She had to act.

Her Spark provided light as it hovered in front of her. It wouldn’t last much longer, but. . . it could still be used as a weapon.

Maya threw the Spark at the cleric, bringing her health down to 77 and plunging the tunnel back into darkness. In the same moment, before anyone could recover, Maya dove forward, tackling the merla cleric around her finned legs and knocking her to the ground. She hoped the confusion would be enough, but then something punched her in the stomach.

-4 health. So much for her brief health advantage.

The merla beneath her was strong, quick, and slippery. Before Maya could recover from being punched, she found their positions reversed as the cleric rolled them over and wrapped her legs around Maya’s torso, sitting on her to hold her in place. In less than a second, everything had turned against her.

She couldn’t cast Wind Whisper without her arms free, so after a moment's fruitless struggle to free herself she snapped another Spark instead to look around. The four brawlers surrounded the pair of them, while the cleric held up a hand to stop them coming closer. The lizardine still had their nets ready, while the other merla stood with raised fists in a ready stance.

How could she get out of this one? She kicked and wriggled, but the merla cleric had too firm a hold on her and Maya had no idea how to wrestle her way free. Her forearms were trapped against her side, preventing her from any sort of attack. The only thing she could do was cast Spark, and that would be basically pointless.

Maya exhaled slowly, trying to act unruffled. “So, you’ve got me. Now what?”

The cleric leaned down, speaking too quietly for the others to hear. “Now, you help me ascend to my rightful place. You're not weak, I'll give you that. But I rather feel you intended to kill me, and I don't approve. I've another target in mind for you.”

“I honestly planned to run away.”

“Smart. But not smart enough. Now, play along and I won’t kill you.”

“Why should I?” Maya’s Spark went out, and she didn’t bother to reignite it. It would be a waste of energy.

“Because you don’t want to die? Or are you one of those suicidal morons who doesn’t care what happens to you?”

“Something like that.” Maya tried to slip free while the cleric was distracted, but 'distracted' was only optimism on Maya's part. She shrugged, barely even able to move that much. “Sure, I’ll play along.”

“Net,” the cleric said more loudly. Sounds of movement. Something brushed against Maya’s leg, and she kicked out at it. “Lie still,” reproved the merla atop her.

Maya sighed, but relaxed and allowed herself to be wrapped up in the net. The atmosphere shifted faintly as no one attacked. By ending the combat encounter, they’d allowed her energy regen to return to normal.

They dragged her through the dark tunnel while she watched her energy steadily climb back up to full. She began to feel some trepidation as the trip continued, and wondered if she’d be able to find her way back out. It felt like they’d made at least three turns.

She idly imagined finishing off that one brawler before his health started recovering. One supercharged Wind Whisper should be enough. She could deal 60 damage if she put her entire energy pool into the attack. She had recovered enough energy now, if only she could get her hands free. Somatic casting requirements were annoying.

She snapped on a Spark, just to see where they were, and found that their party had grown. In addition to the cleric and three thugs who’d captured her, there were now at least a dozen assorted merla and lizardine following behind in silent procession.

All had similar stats to those she’d been captured by, with minor variations. They represented a good mix of Brawlers and Fighters.

Maya began to feel less sure of what was going on. And less sure it was a good idea to let herself be captured instead of fighting to the end.

They passed a side-passage, and another pair of lizardine stepped out to join the back of the group.

The odds of fighting her way out had always been impossible, but it didn’t make her feel any better to see how much more impossible it kept growing.

The Spark faded and vanished, and she didn’t ignite a new one. The darkness returned, impenetrable.

They took another turn, dragging Maya up some steps.

Her energy reached full again.

Then, she started to see light in the distance. A dim watery blue-green glow, growing stronger as they advanced steadily towards it.

[editbookmark]

Before they quite reached the doorway through which the light shone, the procession stopped and Maya was dropped unceremoniously on the ground. She rolled over to get a better view of the assemblage, which had continued to increase during their trip. Easily two dozen stood arrayed before her and the cleric, probably more. The dim light and her angle from the floor didn’t help.

“Alhoth has fallen!” cried the cleric, her voice echoing in the stone tunnel.

“Fallen,” chanted the assembly.

Maya rolled her eyes. Was this another scripted cutscene? She tried to sit up.

The cleric planted one foot on Maya’s chest, pinning her to the ground without breaking cadence. “Linath will rise!”

“Rise.”

“Who will stand before Linath?”

There was a rustle and thudding sound, as the entire group knelt in eerie unison.

Maya equipped a throwing knife in her off-hand to try cutting the net off, starting on the side away from the chanting kneeling weirdos so she’d have a better chance at remaining unnoticed.

“Linath will rise!” the cleric repeated, and the group chanted back, “RISE!” with such vehemence that Maya felt the echoes vibrating in the stone beneath her. “RISE!”

The cleric stepped forward, leaving Maya unattended for a moment as the word ‘RISE’ was repeated again and again.

A perfect opportunity to escape, if not for the fact that her knife kept slipping on the strands of the net and couldn’t seem to slice through.

Maya snapped a Spark into existence, intending to burn through the net if the knife couldn’t do it, but even as her hand started to move the chanting fell silent.

Her spell echoed in the sudden silence, and she felt very, very vulnerable. She tilted her head to see what was happening, and found the cleric smiling down at her from no more than a foot away.

“You don’t know how to play along, do you?” she whispered. “Too bad. It would’ve been more fun, but we’re used to dealing with reluctant participants.”

Maya had had enough. She may be tangled in a net, but she could still make herself an irritant. She fired the Spark at the cleric, then rolled over and stabbed her knife clumsily into the merla’s leg-fin.

The cleric kicked her hand in retaliation, sending the knife spinning and clattering across the stone floor and out of reach.

“Rise,” she said, turning her back on Maya and holding her hands out to the assemblage.

That was just stupid. Did she think Maya only had one knife?

Maya equipped another, and stabbed her other leg.

The merla cleric stomped hard on Maya’s hand and held it there.

-2 health.

Maya had two hands, so she equipped another knife in her other hand and tried again.

This time, her attack elicited a hiss of pain and fury. The cleric whirled on her, ceremony abandoned, and kicked Maya hard in the face. “Is it too much to ask for you to lie still, you wretched feathered beast?!” she snarled, and kicked Maya a second time, harder.

-5 health.

-7 health.

“Yeah, way too much to ask,” Maya retorted, thankful for the muted, distant way that pain worked in this game. Otherwise, the attacks could have been debilitating. As it was, she’d recoiled instinctively, but that was it. “I’m not built for still and quiet. At least, not on anyone else’s terms.”

“Linath?” asked a voice from the crowd. “Do you need help?”

“Yes. You, and you, come here and carry this creature forward. The time has come.” Maya could tell she was trying to speak with gravitas, to recover the ceremonial feeling, but whatever vibe they’d had going was well and truly broken beyond repair. Linath, assuming that was the cleric’s name (and wasn’t that arrogant of her to make such a big deal out of taking over) seemed to notice this as well. She shrugged and made a curt gesture to follow.

Maya continued throwing Sparks at her back. She knew they were each only dealing 2 damage, but that could add up. And it wasn’t like she had anything better to do.

Linath began walking faster, abandoning all pretense of solemnity as she hurried them toward the murky green light.

Then, to everyone’s shock, Maya’s most recent Spark hit her and she collapsed to the ground.

“Huh. I didn’t think that would work.”

The two thugs carrying her looked at each other, then at the fallen merla cleric as though waiting for her to get up and issue orders.

Linath did neither of those things.

Maya had burned through over half her energy, so she remained still and didn’t draw attention to herself while letting it recover.

“Is this part of the ceremony?” whispered one of the thugs. He hefted Maya’s legs, trying to get a better grip.

“I’m not sure. . . she did say she would rise. Are we supposed to keep standing here until she does?”

Maya had to bite her lip to stifle her laughter. At least idiot thugs were idiot thugs the world over.

They all considered Linath’s body for a long minute. Maya’s energy reached full, but she didn’t start attacking yet.

“Maybe,” said the lizardine holding Maya’s arms, “she can only rise after we finish the ceremony.”

“Could be,” said the other.

They took a tentative step forward, glancing at Linath as though she would jump up and scold them, but when she continued to lie dead on the floor they seemed to gain in confidence and strode on past.

Maya didn’t like how precariously low her current health was. She'd recovered one, but that still left her at 16 of 33. She could probably take out these two thugs, if she had time, but if she started a fight they’d likely be able to finish her off long before she could get off that many spells.

Then they reached the source of the glow, which was a deep pit with a green-glowing lake at the bottom.

Maya had just enough time to think ‘oh crap’ before they’d tossed her off the edge and she was falling toward the gleaming water far below.

Harpy wasn’t an aquatic species. She was also tied up in a net. Chances of surviving. . . uncertain.

She hit the water with a harsh slap (-3 health) and sank quickly beneath the surface. She immediately realized that it wasn’t the water itself that glowed, but a collection of algae or something floating on its surface. The ripples of her impact disrupted the previously-smooth surface and sent light undulating across the walls of the shaft.

She couldn’t quite see the far side, the water was murky and the farther she sank the dimmer the light from the surface, but from what she’d seen before landing it had to be at least 30 meters across and roughly - if not perfectly - circular. And it went down a long way.

System menus, she needed an oxygen or underwater status menu. The thought brought one of the ever-present cloud zooming up to hover before her as requested.

Breath: 25/27

It ticked down as she watched, about one every three seconds.

Well. First things first. She had to get out of this net so she could swim properly.

She equipped her throwing knife and tried sawing at the strands of the net, but it being wet only made it harder to get the blade to catch. Even a throwing knife should be sharp enough to cut a basic net apart!

She started snapping at it with her beak, and that seemed to work better.

21/27

Still not well, but at least she had made a tiny bit of progress. She wriggled around until she could get her hands up to the small tear, then grabbed it and pulled as hard as she could. Her movements were too restricted, she couldn’t get a good angle, and the net material was too strong for her to just rip apart.

Well, fine. The ropes tying it closed might be the weak point.

She twisted around until she’d maneuvered the ropes in front of her, then attacked them with her knife and beak.

16/27

Of course the thugs had tied them an excessive number of times. Just her luck doing its best to get her killed. She finally snapped through one of the ropes and was able to pull one arm free of the net. That gave her a better angle of attack on the rest of the loops. This was ridiculous. Who tied this many loops around a prisoner in a net? This was more like binding a mummy than tying up a captive!

9/27

She snapped a second, then a third loop, enough to get her head and shoulders free. Good enough. She started swimming for the surface, trying to work around the fact that her chest and legs were still restricted.

7/27

6/27

5/27

4/27

The surface was close, just a few seconds, almost there, she would just make it. . .

SPLASH!

Linath’s body landed right on top of her. Maya tried to push her off, straining upward, but the merla’s fins had become tangled up with the trailing net and the extra weight dragged Maya downward. Unable to kick with her feet, her arms just weren’t sufficient to swim upward while dragging another person too.

1/27

The box began to blink red.

Maya elbowed the body hard, trying to shove her away before they sank too far, but that only tangled them up more.

0/27

-1 health.

She wanted to scream. Stupid trickster. Stupid luck. She should have accepted the Diviner class and not looked back.

-1 health.

Wait.

WAIT.

Could she still?

-1 health.

At a thought, the popup window returned to focus.

Would you like to change your class from Trickster to Diviner? Time remaining: 5 hours 47 minutes.

“Yes. Change class.”

-1 health.

Class changed from Trickster to Diviner.

The following items are no longer Soulbound: Trickster’s Orb, Trickster’s Mask, Trickster’s Die.

Items lost: Trickster’s Mask, Trickster’s Die.

Soulbound item added: Diviner’s Lens.

-1 health. She only had eight remaining.

Maya felt something brush against her legs, but they’d sunk far enough that she couldn’t make anything out in the near-complete darkness.

Please be zero, please be zero, please be zero. She glanced at her character sheet, but luck had been removed entirely.

-1 health.

“Debuffs?” Another window came into focus at her request.

Trickster’s Price: Luck -60 (3 days 2 hours 36 minutes)

Drowning: -1 health/second

“No! No no no no.” That just made it worse!

-1 health.

“Undo! Load last save! I changed my mind! Go back to Trickster!”

-1 health.

5 seconds left to live.

What could she do?

-1 health.

She pulled out her Trickster’s Orb. “Can I change my mind? Can I go back? Please!”

-1 health.

-1 health.

The Trickster has invited you to visit Asgard. Time remaining: 1 minute.

-1 health.

“Accept!”

Everything faded to darkness.

Maya Starborn Average Androgynous Harpy Level: 8 Affinities: Magical Physical Tier: 1 Class: Diviner Specialization: Seer Base Equipment Modifiers Total Strength: 8 0 0 8 Momentum: 11 2 3 16 Agility: 8 2 1 11 Control: 8 19 0 27 Attunement: 17 0 1 18 Focus: 8 0 1 9 Intelligence: 15 0 2 17 Flexibility: 8 0 1 9 Unassigned: 2 Health: 8 of 80 Will: 18 of 18 Stamina: 133 of 143 Energy: 116 of 116 Speed: 1.31 Switch penalty: -33%, 8.3 secs Stealth: 0.71 Chain bonus: +5% Awareness: 0.9 Cooldown: 95.5% Max abilities: 4 Abilities Abilities: [5 of 4] Wind Whisper

[5 energy] Blow into cupped hands, then push the air toward the target.

Creates a light breeze, a quick gust, or a damaging slash.

[Overcharge: +5 energy, +0.2 sec cast time, +50% force/duration/dmg] 1.9 sec

5 dmg

(wind) Windborne Blade

[45 energy, 5 stamina] Cast Wind Whisper in a loop up and behind, aligning with throwing arm.

Throw knife straight at target with wind as augment. 4.3 sec

33 dmg

{physical} Spark

[5 energy] Draw magic into palm and snap fingers to ignite into a spark of fire.

Can be used as a light or thrown at a target. 1.1 sec

3 dmg

(fire) Truth Sight View a character's class/specialization, current health, will, stamina, and energy. Throw Knife

[5 stamina] Throw a knife at a target with high accuracy. Requires a knife. 0.8 sec

3 dmg

(physical) Perks: Quick Strike Decrease one ability’s activation time by 30%.

Lasts 3.5 minutes.

1-hour cooldown. Oracle’s Blessing Discern the truthfulness of any speech or writing you encounter.

Lasts 10 minutes.

Once a day, Inventory Item Name Slot Str Mom Agi Con Att Foc Int Flx Minor Chestpiece of the Dancer Body 1 1 Ordinary Gloves of Control Hands 13 Minor Waistwrap of the Dancer Legs 1 1 Footwraps of the Acrobat Feet 2 Lesser Bracelet of Control Arm 1 4 Money: 70 Gold, 6 Silver, 12 Copper Quality Item name Details Flimsy Newcomer Tunic Flimsy Newcomer Leggings Rare Trickster's Orb 2/3 uses remaining Flimsy Orchard Map Normal Apple x2 Soulbound Diviner's Orb 3/5 uses remaining Normal Throwing Knife x9 3 damage (physical) Special Key - Arrival Plaza Apartment Expires in 27 days Special Key - Room 6, Sapphire Hall Special Arena Equipment Token Registered to Maya Starborn Uncommon Juggernaut’s Collar Level 29, +12 mom, +11 str Uncommon Boots of Fluidity Level 29, +6 mom, +6 con, +6 flx, +5 foc Uncommon Deceitful Sickle Level 29, +8 str +8 agi +4 con +3 foc Rare Crimson Flame Token Level 30, +12 agi, +12 foc, +6 mom Rare Crimson Flame Charm Level 30, +12 att, +12 foc, +6 int Legendary Ring of Concentration Level 29, +24 Int, +12 Con Legendary Necklace of Acuity Level 29, +18 Flx, +18 Foc Legendary Circlet of Acuity Level 29, +18 Flx, +18 Foc Soulbound Diviner's Lens