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[Quest update — Gold Does Not Glitter]

You failed to identify the undercover agents of the Gold Watch for Sharkey. Captain Fara Myr has decided it is worth the risk to make a full assault on the Kurunere estate, and as a result, the Thieves Guild may not last the night.

Penalty — Relationship with Sharkey

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This alert seemed especially superfluous under the circumstances. Shards of brick, wood, and burning coal showered the combatants as JammyJams surveyed the room for targets. He was twelve feet tall, his body so suffused with flaring aura that it was as red as Silva’s armor. In Fallow, I had witnessed his heart being ripped out by Lord Vitae, a vampire who had subsequently succumbed to the virus that had made JammyJams appear unbeatable until that moment. Obviously, the infection had resurged, both because of his “corrupted” subtype and because of the bumps crawling under his skin. Acarus and Jang had entered into some kind of pact to create the virus, and those who were infected gradually became one with the swarm.

For long seconds as the debris fell, we were caught in a frozen tableau, and then JammyJams spotted the book under Lawlimi’s arm.

“Too easy,” he said, and bent forward to take it. His arms were so elongated that he could stretch across the room without moving, but that left him exposed.

ChadChaddington took a measured pace forward and chopped with his blue-edged katana.

“Hya!”

JammyJam’s skin was horny and thick, normally serving as the only armor he required, but one stroke from the samurai nearly severed his wrist. He retracted his arm, a growl rumbling in his chest, and measured his new adversary.

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(Precise Strike! — Cerulium Katana deals 17,300 Slashing Damage)

(Body — 375,700/393,000)

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“Bitch ass,” he said. Jams had a higher Body total than the average castle fortification, and that was before factoring in his regeneration. Dokutsu was caught between two potential adversaries and didn’t know whom to attack, so she allowed Shippo to pull her away from the escalating conflict.

“Get the book!” Shogun1231 pointed his revolver, and his retainers rushed forward as Sharkey’s chanting reached a crescendo. The gang leader raised up a hand bearing the Wan Ring, which shined red-gold as if from the forge. Ghostly canine shapes poured from the artifact and flooded the study at ankle height. Their barks were maddening, and Shogun1231’s retainers halted and fell to fighting among themselves. Their master was not so overwhelmed, but the din still had an effect.

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(Resist the Wan Ring — Failure)

(Resist the Wan Ring — Failure)

(Resist the Wan Ring — Failure)

(Shogun1231 is DISTRACTED)

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JammyJams swung a haymaker with his uninjured hand, and ChadChaddington was abruptly suffused with orange light, his aura overflowing with calm, poise, and grace. He flipped over the oncoming cloud of gnats puffing out of the fresh gash on JammyJam’s arm that rushed at his eyes and mouth. The Goliath took advantage of this momentary distraction and grabbed the samurai by his shoulder, snapped him up, and spiked him through the floor.

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(Grapple: Successful)

(ChadChaddington takes 1,204 Impact Damage)

(Body – 98,796/100,000)

(ChadChaddington is STUNNED)

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JammyJams didn’t have long to revel in his advantage. The second samurai had taken on an emerald sheen, producing a handful of acorns from a pouch at his side. These he threw, and the Goliath twisted to shield himself. The acorns exploded like alchemist Thunder Jars against his upraised arm, and the noise in the enclosed space was almost as bad as the barking. What was left of the windows shattered outward. My whole body ached with the mingled cacophony, and I involuntarily dropped from Lawlimi’s back, smacking the floor and crawling as fast as I could to the farthest corner of the room.

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(Acorn deals 5,600 Heat/Impact) Damage)

(Acorn deals 4,200 Heat/Impact Damage)

(Acorn deals 3,800 Heat/Impact Damage)

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JammyJams’s thickened skin absorbed some of the damage, but he burned through in patches to reveal a gross musculature writhing with insects. He roared, entering a full rage and going after BolognaKenshin with all his might, smashing furniture and retainers alike with his sweeping attacks. ChadChaddington leaped back out of the hole in the floor to rejoin the fight.

Shogun1231 managed to bully his way out of the chaotic mob of his retainers, a hand clasped over one ear and the other raising his revolver.

“Give me the book!”

Lawlimi released the full charge of his X-Cannon, a blue fireball in a matrix of clear crystalline mana, and it crashed into an invisible barrier around the lawyer, dispersing into random streams.

“Do you know who I am!?” Shogun1231 fired his revolver, and Lawlimi dropped prone to avoid losing his head. Haggitha slipped forward with her knife, but Dokutsu was ahead of her, and her power sword buckled the energy field around Shogun1231. He fired again, and the bullet ruptured inside Dokutsu. It was like shooting a ballistics dummy.

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(Internal Damage – Exquisite Revolver deals 4,440 Heat/Piercing Damage)

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(Lawlimi! Silva!)

My warning missed the mark. Silva had been holding herself apart, awaiting an opportunity, and now that Lawlimi was open she flashed forward, smashing him back to the floor with the flat of her heavy stone axe.

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(Sudden Strike! — Nonlethal — Stone Axe deals 2,112 Bludgeoning damage)

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It wasn’t kindness. The Annunomicon was a soulbound item, so if Lawlimi died it would go with him to Fallow. She needed to knock him out, and a single casual blow had removed over half his Body total.

The Goliath and the samurai were making a mess of things. JammyJams was an inferior fighter, and his swings often went wild while blue swords continued to lacerate his swollen body. But his wrist had repaired itself, and he was surrounded by a growing cloud of winged insects to distract and harry his opponents. When he did land a punch, it was enough to send a samurai sailing through walls. That, combined with the bombardment of acorn grenades, was quickly disintegrating the study. Sharkey, still exhorting his hounds, slipped through the chaos to reach the body of his son. He knelt beside him as if they were alone in the bedlam, and whispered words of power so that white flames spiraled up about them in a vortex. Within that column there was a snap as the soul of the world tore a stitch, and they were gone.

Warping was magic reserved for moderators, gods, and Celestial wizards. Sharkey had abandoned his mansion, taking his son and leaving a conflagration behind. Dokutsu levied a furious series of blows against the barrier that protected Shogun1231. He had shot her a second time, but the damage only encouraged her, and he was forced to reload. No artificer or gunslinger himself, he had difficulty replacing the bullets in a spinning chamber as his defenses buckled and cracked. He was sent stumbling back and tripped over two of his own retainers, who were wrestling on the ground, surrounded by translucent dogs.

Dokutsu poured energy into the power sword until it shone the color of rich earth, and she stabbed down through the shield, rending it, to press into his reinforced kimono and the flesh beneath.

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(Weak Hit — Power Sword deals 3,240 Piercing Damage)

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“Oof,” Shogun1231 croaked, desperately trying to get his revolver ready to fire while wriggling free of the wrestling retainers and out from under the power sword.

Dokutsu spit mucus in his face.

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(Shogun1231 is BLINDED)

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Then she lifted the blade and thrust it down again, her aura rending the cloth armor and allowing her to press deep into the shallow wound she had already dug.

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(Vital Strike! Power Sword deals 11,320 Piercing Damage)

(Shogun1231 is BLEEDING)

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“Agh!” His only shot went wild, and he dropped the revolver to claw at the mucus that covered his face. Dokutsu’s fronds descended on him in a flurry of venomous stings over his arms and neck, and this was finally too much.

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(Shogun1231 has logged out.)

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Lawlimi was holding his head with one hand, charging a shot with the other, as Haggitha tried to fend off Silva. The red-haired woman tested her with a few exchanges, and finding her opponent lacking, allowed Haggitha to overextend into a thrust. Silva stepped to one side and buried her massive axe in the scarred woman’s back, nearly severing her in half. The Gown of the Daughter of Silence, Celestial cloth armor, had absorbed as much as it could before the blade bit through.

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(Sundering Strike! – Power Attack – Stone Axe deals 1,880 Slashing Damage)

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Karcharoth flew from her fingers and skipped across the rug. Haggitha was motionless.

“No!” Lawlimi’s shot was absorbed by red steel plates around Silva’s waist, then the barbarian casually bashed him again with the flat of her axe.

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(Knockout! — Successful)

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Lawlimi had dropped the book while trying to reach Haggitha. Dokutsu hopped into place in front of Silva, standing protectively over him, and as the power sword with its flashing Damascus pattern sparked against a blade of rock, their eyes met.

“No time for a rematch,” Silva said, and her axe erupted in a rolling wave of flame that caught Dokutsu unawares, lifting her up and sending her sprawling amid the titanic duel still in progress on the other side of the chamber. The crimson woman added the Annunomicon to her inventory, then threw Lawlimi over one shoulder and leapt from the open gash that had been the bay windows.

I crawled to Haggitha. Her eyes were open, and her mouth barely moved, but she was conscious even as silver liquid drained from the rent in her body and suffused the floor.

“Take… the book.” The black leather-bound volume appeared beside her, and I immediately added it to my inventory. The various Celestial powers remaining in the room were too concentrated on their survival to notice.

“Go back…” For a moment, the light left her eyes, and she became like a doll, but then they flickered. “Go to the bar. Use it to fix… everything.”

“I’ll try,” I said.

Haggitha ground out her last words. “Hate… your voice…”

I couldn’t take her body with me, not even half of it, but I collected her knife, and guiltily, Elezzar89’s pouch of gems, then watched the fires spread. The white flames Sharkey had left behind were expanding with near palpable hunger. The hangings, the rugs, and the next room over were all alight.

JammyJams grabbed ChadChaddington and ripped him apart.

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(Grapple: Successful)

(Dismemberment! — Vital Maneuver! — 26,700 Avulsion Damage)

(ChadChaddington is STUNNED)

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BolognaKenshin rammed his katana into the Goliath’s back, doing massive damage, but too late.

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(ChadChaddington is BLEEDING)

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JammyJams dropped the samurai. He had taken tremendous wounds, but his rage had pushed him beyond feeling even the flames that licked at his feet. He saw Dokutsu, and moved to crush her because she was alive and needed crushing. She was recovering from Silva’s maneuver, too slowly to avoid the incoming sledge, but rather than strike her, it braked in midair as if caught by an unseen string.

“Chi?”

The Goliath grimaced, straining against an invisible restraint until BolognaKenshin took advantage of the hesitation to slash his hamstrings. JammyJams went to one knee and tried to grab the samurai, whose Cerulium sword removed three of his fingers for the attempt.

Dokutsu rose, waving her heavy blade, but when no one attacked her, she looked to where Lawlimi had been and then sprang for the obliterated windows. She raced after Silva without looking back.

The head of a young dragon, shaggy and dog-like, peeked out of the largest hole in the floor, attracted by the flames. It was the same companion I had spotted ruining ceilings earlier in the evening. It looked at me and licked its lips. I waved Karcharoth at it and crawled back to the open wall. Fortunately, it was distracted by the bellows of the Goliath as he chased the samurai back to our side of the study. The dragon ducked its head to avoid being kicked, and I slipped onto the outer surface of the mansion. The time for my exit had come.

The fighting was in and outside of the mansion, with guild members and fleeing players pitted against the Watch. The fire had spread, and other blazes were lit in further wings of the house, so one small cephalopod went unnoticed in the chaos. I was able to slither down to the ground and disappear in the grass, manipulating my skin color and texture to better blend into the manicured landscape. Dokutsu was already gone, she and Silva having progressed in heroic leaps that quickly carried them away from the estate, from rooftop to rooftop and further into the city. There was no going after them, so I decided to follow Haggitha’s suggestion and return to the tavern of the Unnamed God.

I reached the outer wall and realized I had no idea what had happened to Shippo. He had been playing by the hearth with Dokutsu and ducked under a table when the fighting started, but all the tables had been reduced to splinters shortly thereafter.

(Shippo?)

I couldn’t remember a time when the fox child had used the messaging system, but surely he had heard the rest of us using it.

(Hollen?)

It sounded like he was whispering, though that was an entirely unnecessary precaution in group chat.

(Where are you?)

(Fell through the floor.)

(You’re still in the mansion?)

(Lots of people. Scary.)

(Shippo, listen to me. You need to get out of there. The structure is burning, and if the fire doesn’t find you, the Watch will arrest you.)

(Too many people.)

(You’re small and nonthreatening. You can escape.)

(No?)

(Tell me exactly where you are.)

Shippo did his best to describe his predicament. He had fallen through the study into the auction hall, then secreted himself under the stage. The fighting had either finished or moved on, but the ceiling was aflame and shedding burning chunks of plaster. He was afraid to leave his cover because whoever had brought the dragon had left it behind after being killed or arrested, and it was lazing around the mezzanine looking for small furry creatures to eat.

Fortunately, I was not furry.

The way back was more difficult than the way out had been, but in the aftermath of the attack, the Watchmen seemed to take me for a loose companion or summoned creature that would soon expire. It was not their job to collect lost pets, so they paid no attention and my progress was easier than I had worried it would be. Even the smoke was all high above my head, a concern for the two-legged.

The auction chamber had cleared, but it was made dangerous by burning debris and a watchful dragon cub. I continued to make full use of camouflage and concealment to reach the stage, which was smoking in places.

(I’m here. Where are you?)

Shippo crawled to the edge of his little cave and regarded me with eyes bulging out of soot-streaked fur.

“Behind you,” he whispered.

Astoundingly, the dragon’s camouflage was even better than mine, or I would have spotted him with my wraparound vision. His color spectra shifted, revealing his natural green and yellow hue. We matched.

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Emerald Jungle Dragon – Dragon (Lesser)

Heroic 5

East — Wood — Green

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In some ways, the history of dragons was the history of Mythopoeia. The earliest occupants of our world were a clutch of primordial dragons, and their blood and their scales had fed the earth. Arguably, every creature of Mythopoeia was a little bit draconic because of that legacy, but most of the legitimate descendents of those Primordials had been slain or chased off the continent by wizards and gods during and after the War of the Worm. Those that remained were small and tame, or solitary and terrible. This one appeared to be of the tamed variety, but without a master, even a tame juvenile presented significant peril to two feet of calamari and his fox kit friend.

I produced Karcharoth’s Tooth, which was as long as I was, and brandished it haphazardly at the wyrmling. It had a serpentine body and stubby legs with thick claws perfect for digging into wood, stone, or squid flesh. Its wings were vestigial, as even adults of its kind could barely glide, but its mouth was of the most concern. Broad and well supplied with fangs, it hung slightly ajar as the monster inched closer.

“Bad dragon,” I said, “very bad.”

It blinked at me and whined.