Annabelle walked in on Varn as he was in the middle of forging a sword. She tried to interrupt him, but was shushed and told to wait until the blade was finished, as the process couldn't be interrupted.

Annabelle wasn't sure, but it seemed like Varn wasn't taking the normal precautions for working in the forge. Whether this was due to his skill or due to an innate resistance to heat, she couldn't tell. It was probably a combination of both.

After what seemed like an eternity, Varn was finally ready to tackle Annabelle's project.

"So, what is Raiks' weapon?" Annabelle asked. She pulled out the gun and placed it on the table. "It looks almost like this on a first glance."

"That would be an Arcane Bolter," Varn explained. He walked back into the armory, grabbed an example piece, and dropped it on the table. It looked almost like a gun, with the notable lack of a magazine.

"As the name implies, it uses magic to store and propel bolts." He grabbed three crossbow bolts, and fed them one by one through what seemed to be solid metal at the back of the barrel. The bolts disappeared into the weapon, and he lifted it up and fired three crossbow bolts into a nearby wall, without any sort of clear launching mechanism.

"Now that I've seen that, I'm wondering whether this project is even useful," Annabelle said. "How difficult is it to make one of those?"

"Very," Varn answered. "We only have a half-dozen of them. If we had a nonmagical equivalent, we could produce them for our entire force, rather than as a special weapon for our elites."

Well, at least this wouldn't be completely useless.

"So, gunpowder is a nonmagical explosive compound, composed of sulfur, charcoal, and saltpeter," Annabelle explained. "At least, that's the simple type. I've heard of more complex iterations that are more effective, but I'm not sure on their compositions." The more complex iterations were smokeless powder, designed to be more powerful and not produce smoke.

"We have sulfur and charcoal." Varn replied. "But what is saltpeter?"

"Ummm..." She dug through her memories. "I think it's a fertilizer. Or at least a potential fertilizer."

"I'll ask around, see if I can source some of it," Varn said. "But I don't have any of it right now."

"Once you get saltpeter, you should be able to get the right mixture with a bit of experimentation," Annabelle said. Then she realized that could be dangerous. "Safe experimentation. Remember, you'll be trying to make an explosive."

"I've dealt with explosives before," Varn replied. "Admittedly, the magical variety. But I'm still tough enough to withstand a small explosion." Apparently even though dwarves lacked the stereotypical beards, they still had the rest of the usual dwarven traits, including high durability.

Without any gunpowder, Varn wouldn't be able to make a gun-type weapon without the aid of magic. Annabelle sighed, and was about to leave the armory when she realized something.

Daraken hadn't invented rifling, the technique of adding spiral grooves to a gun barrel to spin bullets and improve accuracy.

"Wait, I've got an idea."

"What would that be?"

"Well, it's not so much an idea as an innovation. By adding spiral grooves to the barrel of a gun, or maybe an Arcane Bolter, it spins the projectile and improves its accuracy."

"Is that so?" Varn replied, doubtful.

"Well, yes. Although I'm not sure how the aerodynamics work out, I know that it does work."

"After I acquire the necessary ingredients, I'll consider that for future development," Varn said. "But improving accuracy won't help until there's a projectile to improve the accuracy of. So, unless you have another idea, I think you will be no further help to me today."

Annabelle left Varn's workshop, and walked over to Turb's tower, adjacent to the library. It wasn't much of a tower (especially when compared to the ludicrously-oversized tower that Daraken lived in), but it was still the tallest building in Sanctuary, standing five stories tall. Annabelle wasn't in the mood for climbing stairs, and looked for an alternate entrance.

There was a window on the top floor. Annabelle launched herself upwards with a kinetic burst, then corrected course in mid-air with a second burst to let her grab the edge of the window. She needed to apply a third burst of self-telekinesis to haul herself through the window, where she saw various ritual circles and arcane implements, along with a very confused Turb. His staff was pointed at her, as if he was going to blast her with a fireball.

"What are you doing?"

"I believe I have been cursed. I need you to analyze the curse and see if you can break it."

"Did one of those aspects of the curse prevent you from climbing the stairs like a normal person?"

"No," Annabelle admitted. At least, she thought so. She was fairly certain she made that decision under her own free will, and that she would know if she was being compelled to not climb stairs. Not to mention that that would be a relatively stupid curse for Daraken to apply, even if it would keep her from climbing up his tower.

"First Lorso, and now you," Turb muttered.

"What was Lorso doing up here?"

"Probably trying to steal my books. She fled when I confronted her."

Did Lorso really believe that Turb would have books that the College and the Resistance's public library didn't?

"Now, what are the terms of the curse?" Turb asked.

"Terms?"

"Curses leave an imprint on their victim's mind that informs them of the exact effects of the curse, and the means to break it."

"Well, I'm not getting any of that." Annabelle paused to consider reasons. "In fact, I suspect that this 'curse' was intended to remain hidden. So, either Daraken's smart enough to have figured out how to remove the signs of a curse, or this isn't actually a curse and I got my terminology wrong."

"Why do you think you have been cursed?"

"I was using my telepathy to interrogate one of his operatives earlier today, and sensed something unusual sent into my mind. I think Daraken left it in his agent's mind to spring a trap on anyone trying to interrogate his agent." She left out the fact that she had fought against Daraken in a mental battle, even though that would probably become public knowledge soon.

"I'll take a look." Turb raised his staff, and began a long incantation. The crystal on the end of his staff began to glow white, and several streams of energy emanated out from it before forming into white rings of energy that encircled Annabelle.

Then, Turb realized what he was facing.

"Oh dear. This is not good."

"What is?"

"It's a Curse of Eternal Slumber," Turb explained. "But trapped."

Annabelle had a brief image of herself turning into Sleeping Beauty. And this wasn't a fairy tale, where eternal slumber was merely a plot device to let a Prince Charming rescue the princess. Odds are she would wake up in a containment chamber of Daraken's, or be killed in her sleep and not wake up at all.

"Normally, such a curse would activate instantly, and would put its victim into a state of bodily stasis until the curse was broken. But Daraken's found a way to bind it to a trigger condition and hide its nature."

"So, at any point in the future, Daraken could put me into a permanent sleep?"

"Not permanent," Turb elaborated. "There's 'only' enough energy to put a person to sleep for a hundred years."

That wasn't much better. Not only would Daraken likely succeed at all of his goals well before she awakened again, but she would probably never get a chance to return to Earth and meet with her old friends.

But she couldn't seriously be defeated by it, right? She had enough willpower to resist anything the Elders had thrown at her, and every other trick Daraken had tried. Problem was, she wasn't sure.

"Can you remove the curse?"

"Potentially. I'm going to need to consult my books." Turb ended his analysis spell, walked downstairs, and Annabelle followed him into a small library. He grabbed a book, titled Grand Curses, and quickly flipped through it to the requisite page. Annabelle tried to sneak a peek at the pages, but couldn't make sense of anything.

"Damnable Daraken," Turb muttered, "breaking all the rules. The curse is supposed to be applied to something that the target eats, not as a mental countermeasure. And it's supposed to have an immediate onset, not a triggered onset."

"I get it, Daraken cheats. But what about removing the curse?"

"That's where it gets... complicated," Turb said, without lifting his head out of the book he was studying. "As it is right now, all I can do to the dormant curse is activate it early."

"I may be able to resist it, if it is triggered early," Annabelle offered. "But if I fail to resist, then what?"

"The curse has a condition which, when met, will dispel the curse. At least normally, I heavily suspect Daraken has gotten rid of that, or set that condition as 'when I says it ends'. I cannot determine the curse's condition while it is inactive."

"I hope that's not the only option," Annabelle said.

Turb seemed to chuckle. "For lesser curses, a simple countercurse will negate it, something far simpler than discovering the conditions of the curse and making them come to pass. But with higher-level curses, using a countercurse will result in side effects. In this particular case, the side effects would most likely be serious mental trauma from being woken abruptly and ripped out of stasis."

Well, she could resist mental damage. Probably.

"So, I see two options. One, I can accept that I'm at risk of being incapacitated at any time and stay away from any further field action. Or two, I can take the risk now. Trigger the curse. If I fail to resist it outright, use the countercurse, I can likely resist the backlash."

Turb considered her proposal, and came up with a third option. "I have a way to mitigate the potential risk." Annabelle followed him back to the top floor, where he unveiled a crystal ball.

"This is the Experimental Orb, one of Aurim's most prized artifacts. It was designed to make even the most risky of experiments safe to perform."

"Let me guess, it lets you see the future so you get the results of the experiment before you perform it." Annabelle reasoned that since it was a crystal ball, it had to do something related to seeing the future.

"Close guess, but not quite," Turb said. "It's a bit more limited than that. When I activate the Experimental Orb, it will begin to show an image of an alternate reality where I conduct the planned experiment, in this case attempting to nullify the curse, while we remain in our current reality and safely observe."

He activated the orb. As Annabelle and Turb stood and watched, they saw an image appear in the orb where they walked forwards into the center of the room. Annabelle always felt a bit weirded out when she was looking at herself in a camera, and this was only slightly different.

"Alright, let's begin," Turb's voice said from inside the orb. He began a quick incantation, and his staff glowed green for a split-second before releasing an invisible emanation.

In the orb's reality, Annabelle saw herself double over. She seemed to be resisting the effect, but barely. She explained as such.

"I can resist the effect, but I can't nullify it," Annabelle explained. "As soon as I sleep, if not sooner, it will go into effect."

"Should I engage the countercurse?" Turb asked.

Annabelle almost consented, before she suddenly had an idea.

"After I test this."

Inside the orb, Annabelle initiated a telepathic contact with Turb, making her aura visible for the aid of her viewers.

Then, her purple aura was overtaken by a red stream of energy for a split-second, before Turb collapsed.

Turb deactivated the Experimental Orb.

"So, you've found a way to redirect the curse into another individual," Turb said. "And messed up the test in the process."

"You cancelled the test too soon," Annabelle complained. "Now I don't know if I transferred the whole effect to you, or simply split it between us."

Turb agreed to a second test. It went exactly the same as the first test, but wasn't cancelled after Annabelle attempted to split the curse. After she did so, she was able to confirm that the curse's effect was merely split, not cancelled outright.

Still, Annabelle now saw this curse as an opportunity.

"Alright, that's a setback, but I still think this curse can be used to our advantage."

Annabelle explained her plan, and worked out a potential plan of attack. If she could pull through, she could pull this off.

**********

After finalizing the plan, Annabelle went to Raiks' command center to attempt to gather the resources and allies necessary for her mission.

"Hey Raiks, where's Darius?" Annabelle's plan required finding a way to sneak into the city unnoticed, and Darius was the member of the Resistance most adept in stealth operations. Getting his assistance would greatly increase the odds of this mission succeeding.

Raiks sighed. "He's currently stranded in Arexia, and about to be captured."

"Wait, what?"

"The Black Legion sprung a trap on him after his mission. The rest of his team was taken out at the extraction point, and though he managed to escape the initial ambush, he's trapped in Arexia. The Black Legion's locked the city down, and it's only a matter of time until he's captured. The only good news is that his plan went off perfectly."

"Why can't you just open a portal and get him out?" For that matter, what was keeping them from opening portals directly on top of key objectives.

"In order for a portal generator to work, it needs either a large open space at the opening point, or a portal receiver to anchor to. Darius' original extraction used a receiver hidden in Arexia, but it was discovered and destroyed. We could potentially put a portal right outside the walls, but he wouldn't be able to get to it."

Well, that would put a wrench in the plan. But maybe, she could still pull it off.

"I've recently discovered something that could potentially take out the entire Black Legion, if I can get into the city to utilize it."

Raiks laughed. "Really? You might be able to get some of them with your vortex, but the rest will overwhelm you."

"This is something different. I can guarantee that if I can get into the city, I can take out every Black Legion soldier in it."

Raiks doubted her, and Annabelle knew herself that it was a risky plan. She wasn't even sure if she could pull it off. But, if it succeeded, it would deliver a devastating blow to Daraken's army.

"You gave me a detailed rundown of your powers earlier. You did not mention such a capability before."

"It's not quite my own capability. It's more of an… unusual interaction with between my abilities and a particular magical effect. Turb figured it out."

Raiks was still skeptical. "And what sort of unusual interaction would that be?"

Annabelle was a bit reluctant to explain it. "I-I had an encounter with Daraken's mind while attempting to interrogate the prisoner. You've heard by now, right?

"Yes. I can't fault you for the encounter, but you were lucky to resist his attack."

"He had no chance to succeed with a conventional mental attack against me. However, he managed to slip a curse onto me using his own man's mind as bait."

"That doesn't sound like a good thing."

"I went to Turb to investigate the curse as soon as I could. Originally he was going to find a way to remove the curse so that it would not become a liability once triggered, but in the process of investigating it, I discovered a way to weaponize it instead."

Annabelle explained the details of what her attack could accomplish.

"I'm going to have to call the council for this."

Raiks used the Resistance's communicators to open a channel with all of his advisors, calling for a special meeting. Annabelle followed him into the council room, and waited for the rest of them to arrive.

**********

After about twenty minutes, the entire council was there for the special session (although a soldier's representative could not be summoned on such short notice).

"Currently, Darius is pinned down in Arexia, and is about to be captured," Raiks explained. "Annabelle believes she has a plan that will not only let Darius escape, but also destroy the Black Legion stationed there as well. However, as Turb has explained, her plan is incredibly risky, relying on her capability to subvert the function of a curse Daraken has placed on her."

"This would be a high-risk operation," Derrin said, "If we succeed, we cripple Daraken's entire military, but it we fail, we lose our best asset. Turb, will this plan work?"

"I have analyzed several test cases, and Annabelle has proven capable of resisting the curse and spreading it's effects," Turb explained. "However, I could not perform a large-scale test."

"And what if this is bait?" Lunima said. "What if Daraken expects her and prepares an ambush for her arrival?"

"Daraken planned for this curse to be a secret," Annabelle said.

"He's been known to play meta-strategies before," Derrin said. "Giving us 'hidden' information that we believed because we thought he didn't want us to know, even though he intentionally leaked it."

"That would require him to accurately predict my level of aptitude in mental combat." Annabelle realized that he had tested her mental fortitude. "Wait, he could have used his earlier attacks as a benchmark."

"So it's true, then," Varn said. "You did engage Daraken in a mental battle when you interrogated the prisoner earlier today."

"Yes. I believe we were very lucky I was the one who made contact, and not someone who would be vulnerable to his attacks."

Turb had an idea. "Wait. Let's assume Daraken knows that Annabelle knows there is a curse on her. That doesn't necessarily invalidate the attack."

Annabelle realized where he was going. "The curse is intended to remove my threat to Daraken, by giving him the potential to incapacitate me at a moment's notice. If we don't know about it, he knocks me out at a key moment to turn the tide of a battle. From his perspective, if I discover it, he might expect me to defect or leave to avoid the curse. At worst, he'd expect Turb to find a way to remove it. But he has no reasonable way to suspect that I can reverse the curse against his army."

"Assuming that you are capable of it," Turb clarified.

"I can pull it off," Annabelle claimed. Yes, she hadn't done the precise technique before, but it was within her power to do it, and she had a penchant for pulling through under stress.

Though, was it truly worth it? Annabelle's plan was a significant risk. And, it would make Daraken's defeat, and more importantly Helios' disposal of her, more imminent.

"You're doubting your own plan," Raiks noted.

But on the other hand, Daraken had made this fight personal. Even if it was true that his overseer wasn't under his control, he had still done nothing to stop him. And Annabelle couldn't just ignore an enemy who had sent an assassin against her and then stuck the magical equivalent of a collar full of explosives on her.

"The curse inversion will work," Annabelle declared. "But in order to maximize its effect, I'll need to get to the center of the city."

"That's going to be difficult," Derrin said. "The city is locked down. No one's allowed in or out until Darius is captured."

"Could I use stealth magic to make it to the walls?" Once there, she could launch herself up them easily and get in position to attack.

"There are Harpies patrolling the air."

"Harpies?"

"Daraken's airborne scouts. They have magically-enhanced eyesight that can see through invisibility and illusions. They'd spot you well before you reached the city."

"Well, in a worst-case scenario, I could always let them capture me." Annabelle could easily create havoc after being captured.

"Odds are Daraken would have you killed on the spot instead of captured," Raiks replied.

"Right," Annabelle realized. Yes, Daraken's curse was non-lethal (potentially implying that he wanted her alive), but it would still be a huge risk.

It took several more minutes of discussion before Raiks made his proposal.

"If you were disguised as a diplomat, you'd be able to get up to the gates without suspicion, and they might even let you into the city outright."

"Diplomats don't usually travel alone," Lunima replied. "She'd need accompaniment."

"Lorso and Silence should be able to fill that role," Annabelle realized. Since they didn't need to rely on weapons or armor, they wouldn't even need to smuggle any weapons in.

"That… could work." Derrin said. "Although, I'm worried that Daraken might know what you look like."

"Daraken hasn't seen my face," Annbaelle said.

"And yet, he was able to send his assassin after you. That means he either knows what you look like, or knew where you were and could scry on you to find out your identity."

"Which means that I could be identified on sight."

"We might have some solutions for that," Faris interjected.

"We have some magic items that would greatly aid an infiltration," Varn added. "Including one particular item with a shapeshifting effect that the Harpies won't be able to see through."

So, with the initial plan resolved, they spent the next hour hashing out the details, after sending someone to fetch Lorso and Silence. In the morning, Annabelle would execute a mission that would end in either her death or the destruction of most of Daraken's army.

**********

Xerxes had managed to elude death. When he was about to be struck down, he used a spell to turn invisible and teleport away while leaving an illusion of himself to be struck down. Rather than remaining inside the active battle (where, even with invisibility, he wouldn't be safe), he had then teleported into an empty crate in the warehouse.

The sounds of fighting continued around him for some time afterwards, before stopping. Then, it seemed to transition to a search. Illusions didn't leave bodies behind, and they probably wised up to his tricks. But though they did poke his box to confirm it wasn't an illusion, they didn't open it.

Eventually, the search seemed to dissipate, and he finally dared to peek out. Thankfully, he didn't exit straight into a group of guards. Judging from the lack of light, it was now night-time. Cautiously, he stepped out of the building, and considered his next move.

Harpies were flying overhead. They could sniff out invisibility fairly easily, but disguise illusions were still fairly effective as long as they didn't have to pass close inspection. He quickly disguised himself as a nondescript commoner as he moved forwards.

What could he do? He had no way to communicate with Sanctuary, having not formally joined them just yet. Even if he could, the communications might end up tracked, giving away his position.

He retreated to one of the Resistance's safehouses, a secondary meeting point Darius had given him in case things went bad. He saw multiple groups of Black Legion soldiers marching through the city, though none noticed him. But when he got there, he spotted Black Legion forces searching it out, led by a Harpy. He almost walked in on them, and was lucky to not be detected.

The Black Legion seemed to be actively searching for someone. And they wouldn't just go to this much effort to catch Xerxes. No, Darius had likely managed to escape, and they were hunting him down.

In that case, it was time to throw off the search. With a silent invocation, he blasted the lead Harpy's mind with horror. He didn't outright suffer a heart attack from the stress, but he immediately screamed and fled out into the air, leaving the rest of the group in disarray. Xerxes followed up with an invisible burst of magic missiles, almost killing one of the grunts.

Two moves were enough to break the morale of that group. They immediately scattered and ran for cover, but with their Harpy coverage briefly lost, Xerxes was free to turn invisible and move to outflank. Another grunt fell to a magic missile, and then a third fell when he walked up behind him, touched him with his palm, and delivered a necrotic drain that left him little more than a husk.

"I'm not going down without a fight," Xerxes taunted. "And you definitely can't win a fight against me." He flickered visible after draining one soldier, before vanishing again. The soldiers drew their weapons and desperately looked around them, with the occasional wild slash in the hopes of scoring a lucky hit. Xerxes merely drew back. Though the frightened Harpy would likely return with reinforcements soon, his goal was to cause a distraction, not to kill a few faceless soldiers.

Still, as he retreated, he unleashed horror on another of them, and this time achieved the intended result of causing a heart attack. That mess should throw them off.

But as he fled the scene, a Harpy spotted him, and dived down onto him. He countered with a staple of mages, a dispel. A Harpy's wings were not enough to support their weight, not without a secondary enchantment to reduce the force of gravity on them. With that enchantment disrupted, the Harpy lost control and was forced into a controlled dive. However, his position had been exposed, and now the rest of the active Harpies were being scrambled against him. Thankfully, it appeared only six of them were close enough to dive against him.

Xerxes concentrated on the run, weaving together multiple illusions. As soon as he rounded a corner and onto a main street, he finished the spell. Half a dozen illusionary decoys sprouted out from him and fled in all directions, while he retained his invisibility. Though Harpies could spot invisible opponents and illusions, they saw both as transparent images. Thus, though they could easily tell both Xerxes and his decoys as altered images, they couldn't tell which one was real. He reversed direction, while most of the Harpies chased his images. Unfortunately, one remained on his tail.

The illusions held for half a minute. As soon as they ended, Xerxes dispelled the Harpy still on his trail to drop him, and ducked into an alley before the Harpy could continue his pursuit. Several harpies flew past his hidden position, but none spotted him.

Now that he was out of pursuit, he could take the time to rest. Even though elves like him didn't need sleep, they did eventually need rest. However, it took him much less time than a human needed to sleep, and more importantly, he remained fully aware during that time. While he waited and rested, he had time to think of his next move.

Maybe, he realized, /fear is an optimal strategy. If I can spread terror with no known cause, their morale would suffer. Keep it up for long enough, and the Harpies might just refuse to patrol. Then, we can leave the city under invisibility.

He disguised himself with illusion again, left his concealed position, and began to roam the city. Every so often, he looked up, picked one of the patrolling Harpies at random, and assaulted them with a nightmarish terror. A few unlucky Harpies, those with the weakest wills, dropped out of the sky, either from a heart attack or from panicking and forgetting how to fly. The others were shaken, and though they stayed airborne, they began to spread fear across the entire force.

By morning, the amount of Harpies in the air had been significantly reduced. Unfortunately, they hadn't cleared out entirely; it seemed that some of them were either willing to ignore the perceived haunting or were more afraid of their supervisors than of him.

Spreading fear was effective, but not effective enough. Unlike Darius, he had an easy way out of this mess, going back where he belonged, in the shadows. But though it was the easy way out, it wasn't the right way out. He had to make sure that Daraken and his legion were as weak as possible by the time his own nation entered this war.