Grand Game 597: Objectives

“Only three?” Adriel asked, one eyebrow lifting disbelievingly.

“Only three,” I replied firmly, and began ticking off points on the fingers of my left hand. “One: securing our home, sector 18,240. Two: expanding into sector 30,199. And three: gaining new strength.”

Farren stroked his chin. “The first two I understand well enough, but what do you mean by the last?”

“Now that sector 18,240 is almost claimed, it’s time to grow our numbers,” I said. “And that means finding new recruits and acquiring more allies.”

Anriq leaned forward. “Like Nexus’ werewolf pack?” he asked eagerly.

“They’re one group I intend on approaching,” I agreed.

“What about the lost Prime?” Ceruvax asked.

“She is another I must meet,” I replied. My gaze slid to Adriel. “Then there is Death to restore. There are also the under-dwellers to consider, the thieves guild, the bounty hunters, and so on.”

“And the bloodlines?” Ceruvax asked. “How do you intend to go about restoring them?”

I grimaced. “Except for the lost Prime, I doubt any of the bloodlines still exist. I suspect we will have to start afresh.”

The old wolf’s eyes narrowed. “Start afresh how?”

“The same way I did. The same way Nyra did. By finding new players and convincing them to awaken their blood instead of swearing themselves to the Forces.”

“That could be challenging,” Safyre murmured. “New players are a precious commodity in the Game and the new Powers do not like sharing.”

I nodded. “I am aware of that, but I have a plan—of sorts.”

Terence rolled his eyes. “When do you not?” He pressed his hands together. “But you haven’t mentioned Saya. When do we go after her?”

“We do not,” I said quietly. I do.”

Safyre stiffened, but I spoke on before she could protest. “Saya is not the forerunners’ responsibility. Of everyone seated around this circle, only a handful of you have even met her. I will see to Saya’s rescue on my own.”

“No,” Safyre objected.

“Yes,” I stated flatly.

“You cannot,” she reiterated.

I turned to face her. “We discussed this previously, remember? And we agreed it was best that I returned to the valley alone.”

“That was before all this! When it was just the six of us. Now, we have so many more to help. We could send an entire army into—”

I shook my head. “No. Have you forgotten whose envoy is in sector 12,560? In whose clutches Saya rests? I will not expose the forerunners to Loken. Saya’s rescue is best done quietly and by me alone.”

Safyre threw up her hands. “It’s a trap, and you know it, and you’re going to walk into it blindly!”

I opened my mouth, a retort on the tip of my tongue, then stopped myself. The conversation was quickly devolving, and this was not a fight I wanted to have with Safyre, not here, not ever.

Inhaling deeply, I calmed myself before continuing. “What awaits in sector 12,560 is almost certainly a trap,” I said softly. “But I will not be venturing into it blindly.”

“Like that will make any difference,” Safyre said. But despite her words, her tone was conciliatory. She, too, was trying to keep matters from escalating further than they already had.

“You’re both right,” Adriel said, entering the conversation. “To a point, anyhow.”

Safyre and I turned to face the lich. While the rest of our companions were doing their best to look anywhere and at anything but me and Safyre, Adriel was not bothering with such pretenses.

“Michael, you’re right,” she continued, seeing that she had our attention. “Penetrating Loken’s envoy’s camp in the wyvern caves is a task best left to you, but Safyre is right too. You cannot enter sector 12,560 alone. You should take a team with you.”

“A team?” I shook my head. “I can’t—”

“Let me finish,” the lich interrupted. “There is no risk in assembling and stationing a team in the Roost. We already have people there, what’s a few more? If you run into trouble, you can call on the team to help—or not. The choice will be yours. And just as importantly, you can check in regularly with them over a farspeaker link.” Her gaze swapped to Safyre. “And if he misses a check in, you can pull him out from whatever mess he has landed in with that new governor ability of yours—call to arms.”

“That…” I rubbed my chin. “That actually makes sense.”

Safyre nodded. “It does.”

“Of course it does,” Adriel said primly, “and if you two were thinking straight, you would have thought of it yourselves.”

I ducked my head sheepishly. The lich was right, of course. Emotions had been clouding both my own judgment and Safyre’s.

“I guess we don’t have everything quite worked out just yet,” Safyre said privately to me.

I chuckled in her mind. “I guess we don’t.” I dipped my head in Adriel’s direction anew. “Thank you.”

She smiled. “Only a pleasure.”

Farren leaned forward. “Right, now that all that unpleasantness is out of the way, I take it you intend on leaving immediately to rescue your friend?”

“As soon as the sector is claimed,” I confirmed.

“I thought so,” the archlich said. “In that case we should decide now who will make up the team. Obviously, I cannot be on it. Nor Adriel. That tavern of yours is in a safe zone.”

I nodded. “True. But there is more we must decide too.”

Farren raised one eyebrow. “Such as?”

“The leader of any expedition force we send into sector 30,199 for one,” I replied. “A brotherhood liaison for another. Safyre will obviously be in charge of this sector, but she will need a support team as well, in case it’s attacked. Then there is the matter of the guardian tower—we’ll have to send a dungeon party there soon—and the outposts Ceruvax recommended.”

Farren rubbed his hands gleefully. “We have a lot to decide, I see. Let’s get to it, shall we?”

✵ ✵ ✵

You have created 6 new faction officer positions and 7 specialized faction groups.

Forerunner Officers

Faction Custodian: Adriel.

Nether Expeditionary Force Leader: archlich, Farren.

Brotherhood Liaison: dwarven merchant, Sedgwick.

Reach Outpost Commander: nagian psi knight, Zekiel.

Guardian Outpost Commander: nagian werefox, Elise.

Home Guard Captain: nagian mage hunter, Lucius.

Vault Guard Captain: windknight, Keros.

Forerunner Groups (assigned members)

Nether Force: Anriq, Regus, and the wolfmen.

Reach Outpost: 25 nagians, 1 company of Bane Wolves, 1 forsworn elite.

Guardian Outpost: 25 nagians, dire and arctic wolves, 1 forsworn elite.

Home Guard: 25 nagians, Adriel, 3 companies of Bane Wolves.

Vault Guard: 25 nagians, 5 forsworn rank 4 players.

Tower Dungeon Party: Nyra, Terence, and Teresa.

Support Team One: Shael, Ceruvax, and the forsworn elites: Mariam, Deryn, and Llewyn.

20 hours remain until the ownership of sector 18,240 transfers to the Forerunners.

It took another few hours to subdivide the forerunners and allocate everyone a suitable role. Not unexpectedly, the discussions proved contentious and there were more than a few heated debates. But in the end, cooler heads prevailed, and matters were decided amicably enough.

Of necessity, the largest and most powerful elements of the forerunners—the bane wolves and nagians respectively—would remain in sector 18,240. Whatever happened going forward, we could not risk losing our home sector. In keeping with that approach, both Adriel and Safyre would remain in the sector as well.

The composition of the nether expeditionary force had been a subject of intense debate. Some, like Sedgwick, thought we shouldn’t send any forerunners into sector 30,199. Others, like Teresa and Anriq argued for a much stronger force to be dispatched. Then, there were those like Safyre who believed sending the wolfmen and Farren would be too revealing.

She was correct on that point.

But the simple truth was that whether it was forsworn, nagians, or wolves we sent to the brotherhood’s aid, something of the nature of the forerunners would be revealed. And in the long run, there would be no stopping the brotherhood from realizing who and what the forerunners truly were.

But seeing as the brotherhood’s new nether chapter would forevermore be isolated in the Nethersphere, them learning the truth mattered little. And in the end, we decided to send the force best equipped to deal with the void, while at the same time ensuring we did not compromise the safety of our home sector.

And that force was the Pack of the Reach.

As former possessed, none of the wolfmen had the normal vulnerability a non-player had to the void’s touch. Then, too, a wolfman had many of the same impressive regeneration traits a werewolf did. Even unshielded, one would be able to survive longer in the nether mists than most players. And with Farren leading them, they could prove to be a truly potent force.

But it was not the nether force assignments that were the most contentious, it was those to the dungeon party and my support team.

No one wanted to be on the first, and everyone wanted to be in the second. Terence, Teresa, and even Nyra ferociously pled their case, but I steadfastly refused them.

For one, they were too low levelled to face Loken’s envoy, and for another, as our only other scions—or potential scions in the twins’ case—they were too precious for the forerunners to risk losing.

In the end, I chose Ceruvax and Shael, backed up by three forsworn elites. Shael was already familiar with the wolves valley, and even if he did leave the Roost, his presence should go largely unremarked.

The same could not be said for Ceruvax, of course.

If any of Loken’s people spotted the former envoy it would spell disaster. The Trickster would immediately work out the implications and realize I’d awakened my blood. And then, I would be truly hunted.

But then again, if circumstances were so dire I was forced to call on the support team for help, the worst had likely already befallen. And truly, when it came to combating Shadow’s wiles, no one was more fit to do so than Ceruvax. I could count on him to rescue me should the situation warrant it.

The disposition of our forces complete, I stood up. “Right, now that that is all worked out, I will leave the finer details in your capable hands.”

Teresa looked up. “Where are you going?”

I jerked my chin in the direction of the island. “There. I want to check out the safe zone. And after that, I need to meditate.”

Terence frowned. “Meditate? Why would—” He broke off. “Oh, you’re going to create your astral simulacrum.”

“I am,” I confirmed. “I suspect it will prove useful where I’m going. And since we have time to spare—” there was still more than twenty hours to go before our claim on the sector went through—“there is no better time than now to cast the spell,” I finished with a glance in Safyre’s direction.

Correctly interpreting my look, she rose smoothly to her feet and linked her arm with mine. “I’ll join you for a bit if you don’t mind.”

I smiled. “Of course, I don’t,” I murmured and, arm in arm with her, strode off.