Crowned in Black: Chapter 5

I woke up to a ringing Party Chat notification in pretty much the same position I'd fallen asleep: flat on my back, Karalti sprawled over me in a tangle of limbs. Blearily, I opened my HUD and checked to see who was calling. It was Nethres.

"Got news for you," she said. "Good and bad."

"Go ahead." I made sure my camera was off. Karalti and I were both stark naked and covered in sand. Not really the kind of impression I wanted to make on any rebel princes who might be looking over Nethres' shoulder.

"Good news is we have a contact in Revala," she said. Her camera came on to show her in a darkened room lit by flickering lamps. It almost looked like a cave, or a storehouse. "Duke Helgi Torquist. He's young, but he’s smart: he’s been playing the political game, pretending fealty while secretly working to try and rescue the queen, princess, and possibly Ignas, too."

"Brave bastard." I squinted, grimacing against the glint of the rising sun coming in through the windows. "The kind of brave bastard who's about one week away from getting his head cut off."

"Yeah. That's the concern. But the guy is loaded and well-connected. Rutha and you were right, too: there’s a resistance starting up in the countryside. Lucien’s public displays of cruelty are backfiring.”

I rolled up and went to close the heavy blinds. The sun didn’t fry me to ash or anything, but it sure was uncomfortable. "He’s going to see it as a challenge to his authority… so he's going to bring the hammer down. And we all know what that’ll be."

Nethres blinked. "What do you think he'll do?"

"A public royal execution," I replied. "Ignas, Queen Aslan and Princess Sohvi, at a minimum."

"Oh, right. Yeah... like what Hyland did to the Warden and his people in Ilia." Nethres frowned.

“What’s the bad news?”

“It’s also good news, I guess. We know for sure that Ignas is being held in the Lion Palace. Spies in Revala’s court saw and heard him being taken to the dungeons. The queen is down there, too, but the princess is not. The bad part is that Lucien is camped in the palace as well. Security is tight. Place is crawling with Ilian soldiers. Mercurions with magitech weapons. Dragons.”

I’d been expecting to hear that, but grimaced anyway. "Alright. What do we know about these Mercurions?” I asked. “What faction are they from? The Phaedra or the Zaryans?”

“The dragon-worshipping ones.”

“That’d be the Phaedra." I sat back down on the bed, covered Karalti with a sheet, and equipped some pants and a tunic before switching on my camera. "They’re religious zealots.”

“They're using magitech powered armor units to suppress the city. Everyone’s chattering that 'Emperor' Hyland’s war machines devour any opponent they face. Apparently the stories are true."

"Yeah, and I bet Ororgael helped those stories start circulating." I mulled it over. "Alright. That's a great start. Is Prince Illandi willing to meet?"

Nethres shook her head. "No. You're too closely linked to the Eyrie. He's willing to believe there's a ‘rogue queensrider’, as he put it, but he wants to see what you do in Revala before any meetings. He's willing to help you get in contact with Torquist, though. Issued me a quest to make contact so you can speak with him."

"You want to take it up?"

She shrugged. "Sure."

“Great. When do you think you can make contact with Torquist?"

"Today," Nethres said. "I'm disguising myself as an Ilian dragoon scout and flying my quazi to a checkpoint, then swapping disguises there. A lone rider isn't likely to be seen or stopped."

"Yeah." I frowned. "Just be careful. Take magical shielding, if that's something that exists. I don't trust Ororgael not to set up some kind of magical checkpoint system."

"I have a runic chant that increases my armor." Nethres ran her hand back over her braided hair. "What's the time in Myszno now?"

I checked. "Zero Seven fifteen."

"So you're six hours ahead of me," she replied. "It's quarter past one in the morning here. I'm setting off as soon as we wrap up the call."

"Go: travel by night as much as you can." I raised a hand to her. "Take care, alright? And thanks."

"Sure. We will." Nethres seemed even more stoic than usual. "I'll message you once I link up with Torquist. Don't know when that will be, exactly... but get ready to fly in with your dragon sometime this afternoon. I think you can teleport to party members."

"As long as you're not imprisoned or captured, yeah."

"Talk to you later." Nethres gave me a wane, humorless smile, then cut the call.

"A solo flight right into the middle of Revala? Yikes." I winced. "Godspeed, Nethres."

"Mmngh?" Karalti stirred beside me, flailing out with a hand.

"Don't worry yet, Tidbit. Get some sleep." I shuffled back off the bed, tense and alert. "Gonna go distribute some points and EXP while we wait for Nethres... and see if Nemeth knows anything about Lovi Palace's dungeons."

I’d hit Level 34 after fighting the Voidwyrm Empress in the Bashir. She’d been a ridiculous level, Level 120, and it had taken an entire army wailing on the outside of her, plus me and Karalti attacking her from the inside to take her down. Sadly, we didn’t get Level 120’s worth of personal EXP, meaning I was still 1900 points away from reaching Level 35, when I’d get access to Level 7 combat abilities. All things considered, though, my sheet was looking pretty good:

Dragozin Hector - Dauntan (Tuun)

Level 34 Dark Dragoon

==Stats==

Strength: 91 (+12)

Dexterity: 110 (+5)

Stamina: 53

Will: 139 (+25)

Wisdom: 65 (+10)

Intelligence: 51

HP: 3214 (+800)

EXP: 60,375 (1900 to next level)

Adrenaline: 794 (+100)

==Gear==

The Spear of Creation

Soul-bound Light/Dark/Fire/Earth Elemental Weapon

Slot: Two-handed

Item Class: Relic

Item Quality: Mastercrafted

Damage: 604—717 Slashing or Piercing

Durability: 25%

Weight: 1lb

Special: Soulbound, Elemental Quadrat (see description). +400 Damage to Undead, +800 HP, +12 Strength, +25 Will, +10 Wisdom. +25% Evasion, 3% chance to instantly kill an enemy, +15% Stamina Regeneration, +100 Adrenaline Points, Mark of Justice (see description), Mother’s Grace.

Special Abilities

· Elemental Quadrat: At will, you can change the elemental polarity of the Spear of Creation between Light, Dark, Earth and Fire damage, potentially dealing bonus damage to susceptible enemies.

· Maker’s Blessing: Learn crafting skills 8% faster.

· Nightfather’s Blessing: 9% of inflicted weapon damage heals the wielder.

· Mark of Justice: During combat, you may designate one opponent as a marked target. Your attacks against that target increase in priority and deal 10% more base damage for 5 minutes. This damage stacks with ability damage and combos.

· Mother’s Grace: If you fall below 10% health, you immediately regenerate 50% of your total Stamina and Adrenaline points.

Stormrider Scale Armor

570 Armor

+30% Damage Reduction from falls or Bludgeoning weapons

+35% Resistance to Piercing Damage

-15% chance of vital or mortal blows landing on the wearer.

Special: Unarmed strikes made against enemies deal lethal, instead of non-lethal damage.

Medium Armor

Body Slot

90% Durability

Level Required: 25

Price: 1100 gold Olbia

An experimental armor design which relies on precisely machined scales woven into an interlocking matrix. This armor offers exceptional piercing and bludgeoning resistance, but is very expensive due to the expertise required to create it.

Raven Helm

Magical Armor

50 Armor

25% impact reduction (Head), 5% Light, Fire and Air elemental damage reduction, 25% resistance to the Blindness & Deafened status effects. Enhanced flight display.

Head slot

83% durability

A Mercurion-crafted helm enchanted to allow you to see through the solid visor.

Cossack Harness

Masterwork Item

+25 lb. to maximum carry weight

Belt Slot

94% durability

A four-point flight harness worn over armor. Used to attach yourself to the quick-release points on your saddle and prevent falls. It can also hold pouches and weapons.

Belt of Tiger’s Spirit

Magical Item

5 Armor

Slot: Belt

+5 bonus against fear

+5 bonus to intimidate checks

An ancient Vlachian shaman bound the spirit of a tiger to this leather belt, which was made from its skin.

Bangle of the Master Thief

A beautifully worked bangle of gold and bluecrystal mana under glass. +5 Dexterity, +15 to Lockpicking and Safecracking skills. Grants Darkvision when charged. Activating Darkvision consumes one mana slot, and lasts for 1 hour. (Mana slots: 4/5. Fuel Type: 60%+ Liquid Bluecrystal.)

Shield Attunement Ring

A rare artifact which lets you freely pass the Shield of Ancestors, the barrier which surrounds Meewhome, and allows the Avatar of Meewhome to connect with you telepathically across any distance.

Amulet of the Spark

Boosts AP regeneration by 20%; regenerate 1 point of Adrenaline per minute when outside of combat.

Ring of the Ocean

Blessed by priests of Rusalka in their dark rites, this ring offers 15% protection against the Water element.

Davri’s Dagger

An exquisitely crafted dagger made out of a strange, flat gray metal. You must attune the dagger with your own blood to activate the magic. Once attuned, whenever you sneak attack an enemy, you deal +200 bonus necrotic damage and regain 100 HP from living enemies. If the afflicted enemy does not treat the necrosis within 5 hours, they may develop Gangrene.

=Mark of Matir Abilities=

Shadow Lance: Your weapon transforms into solid darkness. In a single strike, you deal bonus Dark damage equal to 75 x half your Will score. Your opponent gains the Blinded status (unless immune). Current damage: 3637.

Blessing of the Raven: You call on your power and gain increased insight into knowledge and skills. +10% Skill EXP for 45 min.

Life for Life: Channel a blast of damaging dark energy into your enemy and drain their lifeforce to replenish your own.

Spider Climb: You gain the ability to climb and travel vertical surfaces, crawl across ceilings, and hang on walls. Level this ability to extend duration. Duration: 20 seconds.

Mortal Grudge: Deal five powerful non-elemental magic attacks to one enemy (35 x half your Will score), and inflict the Death Sentence status on yourself (countdown: 60 seconds). Speed increased by 25%, Adrenaline Point regen increased by 2.5x for 60 seconds.

Dancing Fly (Life): When this ability is activated in combat, it drains one Adrenaline Point per second. Each time you successfully evade an attack while activated, your Evasion increases by 5%. The bonus is cumulative and ends when the combat ends or you run out of Adrenaline.

Dust to Dust

If you kill someone using stealth, your enemy will turn into dust, leaving no trace of a corpse to find.

Shadow Sight (Life)

This ability conveys the Black God’s blessing on your eyes, allowing you to see in the dark. Under low light conditions, you will be able to see with high clarity. In true darkness, you will gain thermal darkvision.

=Path Abilities=

Blood Sprint IV

Hit up to 10 targets, deal +250 bleeding damage over ten seconds, boost attack speed +20 for 10 seconds. Chains with Blood Storm.

> Blood Storm III

Strike up to 10 targets. 35 HP recovered on good hits. Can only be used after Blood Sprint.

>> Death by a Thousand Cuts II

Mark Targets with a curse that lowers their attack power by 4% per skill level, and increases your attack by 4% and Damage reduction by 10%. Percentages rise as you level the skill. Max 1 enemy target per skill level. Chained with Blood Storm.

Jump VI

Spring up to 60ft into the air in any direction and deal x4 damage on landing, with +10% knockdown resistance while in the air.

> Night Falls III

Chained from Jump. You are a master of aerial combat: as you descend from Jump, you deal a powerful Area of Effect strike that knocks down up to five enemies and deals elemental Darkness damage. If you land on an enemy while activating Night Falls, you also deal your Jump damage to that enemy. If you have already dealt damage with Jump before chaining this ability, you only deal the AoE effect damage.

> Obscuring Veil III

Chain combo from Jump. Deal a further x3 damage to 3 targets with a very high chance of dealing the Blindness debuff.

> Master of Blades VI

Chain combo from Jump. Before you hit the ground, leap backwards into the air and manifest a rain of shadow lances onto your foes, dealing massive damage to enemies (1998 per lance, 4 lances per level, maximum 4 lances per enemy).

>> Rain of Glass III

Chained from Master of Blades. Twist acrobatically mid-air, unleashing a second blast of Dark energy shards down on a group of enemies. 1050 damage to 5 enemies. Damage and number of affected enemies increases when you level this skill.

Umbra Burst IV

Draw Dark energy from the air and emit a chilling burst of enervation that deals elemental damage and has a 25% chance to inflict the Frozen debuff.

Shattering Darkness III

An attack that freezes and cracks an enemy’s natural or man-made armor. Reduces enemy Damage Reduction by 15%.

Whirlwind Butcher III

Hit up to 12 targets and recover 15 AP on every good hit.

Shadow Dance V

Basic Evasive Dash reduces damage by 95% at the cost of HP (5 HP per dash). Can now be used three times in a row before recharging, including while in mid-air. You can now dash in any direction without needing prior momentum: straight up or down from standing, etc.

Mantle of Night III

Boost movement speed and special attack power 25% for 25 seconds.

Plunge III

Your acquired resistance to g-forces has increased beyond the threshold granted by the Rite of Marantha, even if your head is above your feet. You are able to withstand 15 negative Gs (5 per skill level).

Leap of Faith III

You gain the ability to better control your direction in the air if you fall off your mount, even when flying at high speeds. You experience time dilation of 3 seconds (1 second per skill level) while falling.

Black Lotus I

You manifest a terrifying garrote of shadow that wraps around your target's neck and crushes the life out of them. The garrote has a range of 40ft, inflicts 35 damage per second, has a 30-second duration, and causes the Suffocation debuff. Range, damage, and duration increase by leveling this ability.

I had 20 unspent points from my last couple of levels – enough to bump up three Level III skills, two Level IV, and one Level V. I decided to increase Black Lotus – which only took one point - and two of my Level 3 abilities: Shattering Darkness, which was one of my most useful attacks against armored opponents, and Rain of Glass, the third stage of my powerful Jump > Master of Blades > Rain of Glass combo:

>> Rain of Glass IV

Chained from Master of Blades. Twist acrobatically mid-air, unleashing a second blast of Dark energy shards down on a group of enemies. 1371 damage to 7 enemies. Damage and number of affected enemies increases when you level this skill.

Shattering Darkness IV

An attack that freezes and cracks an enemy’s natural or man-made armor. Reduces enemy Damage Reduction by 18%.

Black Lotus II

You manifest a terrifying garrote of shadow that wraps around your target's neck and crushes the life out of them. The garrote has a range of 50ft, inflicts 38 damage per second, has a 35-second duration, and causes the Suffocation debuff. Range, damage, and duration increase by leveling this ability.

The remaining 5 points I held onto. I’d get 10 more when I hit Level 35, which would let me level Shadow Dance to VII. Given that dodge had saved my life more than any other ability, it was worth investing it to max level at every opportunity.

After that was training. My Advanced Path could pretty much be summed up as: ‘dodge-based flying nuclear cannon’ in terms of how it played out. High mobility, high damage, low defense. To compliment Shadow Dance, there were skills I was bent on leveling to the limit: the acrobatic and aerobatic skills that gave me and Karalti an edge in almost any fight between us and other dragon-rider teams. Kalla Sahasi's tall Gothic towers were perfect for this kind of stunt training. I scaled the walls, jumped between parapets, walked on my hands over the merlons. Even though I was now reaching the early Advanced levels in Acrobatics, Gymnastics and Parkour, there was still fear. Every time I died, it was... not great. But I made a point of confronting that fear every day, training every day, adding experience points to the pool every day. And that’s why I settled down to review my quests while balancing along one of the banner poles that hung over the gate to the Great Hall.

"Let's see... Yava’s Garden. That's definitely one to get done soon." I had my HUD narrator, affectionately known as Navigail, read the quest description aloud.

New Side-Quest: Yava’s Garden

When the Demon swept through Myszno and took Kalla Sahasi - then known as Egbolt Castle - Istvan Arshak lost everything and everyone he loved. He and his wife and daughter lived with their dog in a small house behind the castle kitchens. That house was razed to the ground by hordes of undead, and the corpses of Istvan’s family were added to the ranks of the Demon’s legions.

Your Steward has requested that a small memorial garden be built at the site of the old house, a symbol of healing for both Istvan personally, and Myszno in general. You can handle this task in any number of ways: by constructing it personally, allocate Kingdom Funds to Istvan, or outsource the garden to contractors.

Reward: Renown, 4500 EXP.

Special: Renown depends on the methods used to construct the garden, and the quality of the end result.

There was no way I was outsourcing anything. Istvan had become one of the cornerstones of my kingdom: he kept Myszno on track while me and my team cleared quests and kicked ass. He paid the bills, held court in my absence, drilled soldiers, handled hiring… the list went on. It felt right to do the work of creating the memorial for him. Handing him a stack of money and leaving him to sort through the wreckage of his life was out of the question.

From my precarious position above the courtyard, I could see the kitchens: a blocky set of buildings between the gatehouse and the castle gardens. I leaned backwards on the banner pole, bending from the waist until one foot left the iron rod and my hands made contact, and let out a little ‘hup!’ as I pulled it into a reverse handstand. Gripping the bar, I walked on them back to the wall, triggered my Spider Climb ability, and scuttled down the face of the grand hall to the ground.

Istvan’s place had been on the other side of the gardens. When it’d been whole, it would have been pretty, like some country cottage in pre-War England. Right now, it was a sad ruin. The fences were broken, the garden a pitted wasteland. The roof had burned away, leaving the thick cob walls slumped into piles. There was rain-rotted furniture tumbled inside, barely recognizable.

“Man. This place feels haunted as hell.” As I removed my helmet out of respect, my eyes caught a flash of color among the gritty black and gray: a half-withered bouquet of blue flowers, left on the doorstep to the house. I trudged over and squatted down to get a better look. It was a small shrine of sorts. Flowers, a candle in a jar, and a locket under a tiny wooden shelter. I picked up the locket and cracked it open. There were two tiny paintings inside: one of Yava, and one of her and Istvan’s daughter, Meena. His wife had been Yanik, one of the native peoples of Myszno. She'd been an elegant, fierce-looking woman, with a very long plait of thick black hair and big, round brown eyes. Their kid had her eyes and hair and Istvan's sharp jawline. She was smiling, full of innocent warmth. She wore a crown of daisies in her hair.

“God. Poor Meena,” I murmured. "Poor Istvan."

I sucked one of my teeth as I took in the details of the paintings, then looked over the ruined yard. As I did, an image of what could replace the ruins began to take shape, and I was fairly sure I knew the people who could help craft what the place needed. It would be a memorial for Yava and Meena and Istvan, but also for the people of Myszno themselves... and to some extent, for me. Like Istvan, I’d once lost everything - my family, my world, my life itself - because of someone else’s stupid fucking war.

“Don’t worry, ma’am. I’m taking care of him. And I’ll bring your flowers back to life, I promise you that.” I snapped the locket shut, and gently replaced it in the shrine. As I did, I felt a small, oddly warm breeze shift over my face like a caress. It ruffled the ashes inside of the house, stirring up a little whirlwind that settled back to the floor.

As I watched, wondering if Archemi DID actually have ghosts, my HUD chimed. It was Nethres. I patched her through and started to pick my way back through the wreckage, heading for the Great Hall. "Go ahead."

"Torquist wants to meet," Nethres said. "I've marked the coordinates on our party map. He says to be there within the hour, or the deal is off."