Dark Matter Ascension-Chapter 57B2 - : An unexpected guest
Greg walked forward through the crypt. He heard a loud click and flattened himself against the wall as an enormous, scything blade swung downward and chopped through where he was standing a second ago. “Why so many traps?” he asked, lamenting the stressful journey through the Complex.
“Strong undead like these ones enjoy keeping their valuables secret and safe. Lots of traps.” Priam walked up and tapped the now-stopped blade with his knuckles. “Sharp.”
Dee pointed her hand up to the joint where the blade connected and shot out a basic Nebula Blast (Rank 1), melting the metal joint as the enormous pendulum-blade clattered to the ground.
Greg nodded and let out a slight chuckle, “This better be worth it. Think we’ll find any treasure down here?”
Priam nodded, “Yeah! People are buried with their valuables here. I would not be surprised if we find some awesome treasure!”
At that, Dee’s expression changed from a slightly bored one to one filled with excitement, “We get to grave rob? Awesome! It’s been a long time since I’ve done that.”
That thought disquieted Greg. “Let’s not call it that.” And as he kept walking forward, another thought passed through his head, “Priam, are curses a thing? Like ‘don’t steal or else you will be cursed’?”
Priam laughed heartily, holding himself up by holding onto Dee’s arm. “No! No, that’s silly. Divine-magic spells don’t persist once the power fades. Curses. Pfff.”
Greg nodded and kept going forward. They had been traveling through the depths of this Complex-tomb for almost thirty minutes now, coming across a bunch of traps. But finally, they arrived at a large, sealed door with inscriptions on it. Priam cleared his throat and read it aloud. “This is the burial chamber of Yhan-vor-oth. Beware any who enter, blah blah.” He chuckled, “Some stupid warning. You’re clear, Greg!”
Greg nodded and pushed against the stone door, trying to slide it sideways where he saw a small crevice. After some hefting he made some headway, and the slab moved enough that they could squeeze through to the other side. Priam slipped inside before Greg could say anything, and he came back less than a second later, holding a flat, bronze disc. “Got it. Phylactery acquired.” He handed it to Dee, “Melt it, and the person is dead.”
Dee nodded, held it, and let her goop flow out from her carapace and over the disc, melting it down to slag. “Anything else in there?” she asked.
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[Quest: Clear the forgotten tomb of Yhan-vor-oth, the defiler of bones.]
[Time Limit: N/A.]
[Reward: Stardust.]
[Sender: The Cosmic System.]
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[Stardust Acquired: 2000.]
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The message flared up in front of Greg’s vision. “That’s enough to get our Advanced Classes,” Greg muttered.
Dee pushed her head past Priam and pulled it back from the small opening. “Nothing in there but a bunch of shards of pottery and a weird pedestal.”
“That’s where the phylactery was,” Priam replied. “The pottery is just old. Maybe it once was valuable, but all shattered? Only a museum would value it.” He paused, and then ducked back into the room, and Greg heard rummaging and the sound of clay shards hitting each other before Priam came back out with a jangling pack. “I’ll give it to the Star Archive. I’m sure they’ll appreciate the historical value.”
Greg nodded and slid the tomb door shut. “Let’s get out of here and get our Advanced Classes online.” He began to lead the way out of the tomb. “What’s our next stop?” he asked.
“We should head over to deal with Wricen,” Priam replied. “He’s a big meanie that needs to be put down. And since we’ll be Tier 6 once we level up, we will have a whole Tier on him.”
“What type of threat is he?” Dee asked.
They entered the sun outside and Priam set to petting the sand sharks that seemed to almost purr under his pets. “Well, he was once a priest before he became an Aspirant. Then, when he became an Ascendant, he came back here and began doing something. I know that involved killing my family.” As he said this, Priam’s expression changed to one of sorrow. “My clan. He had to have it out for them for some reason.”
Quinn’s voice came over the earpieces, “I can answer that. Wricen has been killing off gods and consuming their Godheart to get more divine-magic spells to convert to Skills. Looking at the history here, Fernaid one had about five-hundred gods. Now, there’s around half that. Mostly because of Wricen.”
Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.
“How can he consume Godhearts?” Priam asked.
“It’s obvious, isn’t it?” Quinn replied. “He’s part of your clan.”
Jace spent a lovely afternoon with Shhiv before heading back to The Cosmic Corridor and returning to the Gold Paw’s establishment. He was waved at by Copperpaw, and walking over to her, she leaned in and whispered, “Head downstairs for the briefing.”
“My cut of the last gig?”
She sighed and held out her Civilian-marked hand, “We haven’t sold the fabric yet, but I’ll give you an advance.” Jace put his hand on hers briefly as the Stardust transferred over.
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[Stardust Acquired: 3000]
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He nodded and wordlessly went back behind the bar, down to the secret passage, and crawled through the small tunnel to the room with the map. There were six people dressed in fancy clothing from the cloth he burgled earlier. Taking a seat alongside the others, he gave them a curt nod as he waited for the briefing to start.
Ollie had shuffled around in his hood to pop his head out on top of Jace’s, his silvery-outline form active. He patted Jace’s head. “Hey, make sure that you are paying close attention.”
Jace nodded as Goldpaw walked into the room. “Let’s get started.” He pointed at Jace, “Flicker here is going to be our hand off man. He can turn himself completely invisible, so you may not see him. Any loot you snag or pickpocket, put it into your left cloak pocket.” He looked at Jace, “You’ll snag all the loot from their pockets. Easy enough.”
Jace nodded, “Understood.”
Goldpaw turned to the others, “This soiree that is being put on this dormancy period is going to have a special guest. No clue who he is, but he is some Nebula Alliance big wig.
“Why is he there?” Jace asked.
Goldpaw shrugged, “Nebula Alliance owns this world. I’d guess they want to check in on their investment. In any case, his presence is going to draw a lot of high-profile, rich people to the party. Perfect for stealing from.”
Jace sighed and nodded, “Right.”
Another of the pickpockets stood up before speaking, “Do you want us to steer clear of them?”
Goldpaw nodded, “Yes. Stick to the outside edges. We want to make Stardust, not make a statement. Any more questions?”
No one said a thing and Goldpaw nodded, “Right. Well, you know your assignments.” He looked at Jace, “Once our people are out, make sure you bring the loot back here. If you double cross us, I’ll make sure that everyone knows Flicker is here on Graskorn, and that he’s the one who has been committing all sorts of crimes.”
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Jace nodded at the threat, taking it in stride, and knowing that it was not hollow in any way. “Can we talk compensation for a minute?”
Goldpaw nodded as the various pickpockets left the room, “Yes. Is it about Stardust? The advance was only a little-”
Jace shook his head, “Not that. I want to talk about what I’m getting for this gig, tonight.” He leaned forward in his chair, “I want to meet the Merchant of Misinformation.”
Goldpaw’s eyes narrowed, and he took a puff of his cigar, “That can be arranged. No split of the loot in exchange for meeting the renowned information broker? Done and done.” He waved to the door, “Now you should get going. The party starts soon.”
Jace got up and left, leaving the building and following the map Ollie put up in the corner of his vision. Dark Matter Cloak (Rank 3), he thought as he began running across the city rooftop. The differently constructed buildings went by in a few minutes as he far outpaced the pickpockets.
Crossing an enormous web of netting that was filled with well-to-do people who were coming or going, he traversed a near-vertical section as he clambered up towards the higher portions of the city, the Hightower Quarter. It was up on a cliff or plateau of some type, overlooking the rest of the city below it. The buildings were not uniform or remotely similar to each other; save for the fact that they were tall. But all different styles and types were represented among the sprawl.
Ollie patted Jace’s face as they got higher up and over the edge of the buildings in the district, “Hold up.”
“What is it?” Jace asked as he went aside to avoid the flow of foot traffic. “Spot something?”
“Someone,” Ollie said as he pointed out a creature that looked like a blob with tentacles shoved into a dress outfit. “That is Deckard Stonewall. Leader of the Nebula Alliance!”
Ollie’s body froze up, and Xera’s voice came out of his mouth. “That does not bode well.”
Jace used his Ghostlight Grapnel to pull himself atop a building in this very well-maintained and eclectic district Jace glanced over at Ollie’s head, “Should I call off the gig?”
Xera’s voice sounded upset, and irritated, but there was an undercurrent of enthusiasm. “He has no clue you are here. He is a cautious man. No way he would come to Graskorn if he had an inkling you were here.”
“That’s a relief,” Jace replied. He could see dozens upon dozens of Cosmic Power symbols throughout the crowd; all different types: including some Black Hole and Supermassive symbols. But they did not have Nebula Alliance fingertips. They were black. “Did he ally with Troxanir?”
“No. It appears that the Black Hole Conclave has simply been contracted out as mercenaries.”
Jace nodded, “If the Black Hole people are in the party, then they’ll definitely notice me from their weird gravity-detection thing.”
“I confirmed it is a Skill,” Xera quickly stated. “It enables them to detect localized gravity distortions and disruptions. It’s an ingenious workaround to your Dark Matter Cloak, but the area of effect is small at Rank 1. The cloud-method is far more effective at finding your location; but at a fancy party, that is not a viable option.”
Jace sighed, “Well, what do you advise?”
“Go forward with the plan for this gig. Do what the Gold Paws asked you to do. This broker will give us the opportunity to track down the cult and deal with them. That is the mission. We have to preserve the integrity of our universe first and foremost.”
Jace nodded, “The Nebula Alliance though; they put a bounty on me. Should I…deal with Deckard?”
“I would prefer not. He is a relatively stable part of The Cosmic System. His faction holds control over many worlds, and if the faction leader were to suddenly perish, it would cause massive ripples.” She sighed, “Sadly, you will just have to live with the fact that as one of my Signers, you will always have enemies, and we cannot always eliminate them.”
Jace nodded, “Okay.” He spotted the pickpockets clambering up the rope netting and ascending to this topmost level of the capital city. “Showtime.”
“Good luck,” Xera said.
Ollie got back in control, patted Jace’s cheek, and gave him a little thumbs up. “You have got this. Just keep away from the Black Hole and Supermassive users, and we should be good!”
Yeah, but I will need to find some places to hole up to let my energy regenerate. Jace began shadowing the pickpockets below as they joined the larger crowd heading to an enormous, square-bottom tower that ascended high into the skies.
