Grand Game 594: Barging About

You have entered the safe zone of sector 45,104 of the Forever Kingdom, an open sector forming part of the region known as the Coral Islands. It is currently neutral territory, unclaimed by any faction or Force. 

Note, a shield generator is in place around the sector, preventing portals from opening anywhere except in the designated teleportation areas. 

I stumbled theatrically out of the gateway and into the brotherhood port town of Sango. Kartara followed in my wake, and then Senzo.

The reaction from those watching was instantaneous.

“Huntmistress!” a customs official exclaimed, bounding onto the teleportation platform. “You’re back!”

The portal winked out behind us.

The official’s excitement faded. “Where are the others?” he asked, perplexed.

“Dead,” Kartara answered, her face pale and scrubbed of emotion.

“Dead?” the official yelped, his face whitening. “Surely not—” 

“They’re gone, Mack,” Senzo said, his own face grief-stricken. “All of them.” He gestured to Kartara and me. “Only us three managed to get out.”

Mack licked his lips. “B-but… but…”

Kartara clamped a hand down on his shoulder. “It’s a disaster, no doubt about it, Mack. But the brotherhood will survive. We always do.” Not waiting for the official’s response, she spun around. “Senzo, hurry to the castle. I wanted a meeting of every surviving senior officer convened forthright!”

Stiffening, the spymaster saluted. “Yes, ma’am,” he barked, before dashing off.

Kartara turned to me. “Eccl, you know what to do.”

Throwing her a sloppier salute than Senzo, I reached into my pocket and withdrew the portal scroll I held ready.

“What—? Who…” the official sputtered.

Placing her arm around Mack, Kartara carefully, but firmly, drew him away, giving me space to cast my spell.

Channeling mana into the scroll, I opened a portal.

Kartara and Senzo had things well in hand. They didn’t need me, and it was well past time I returned home.

✵ ✵ ✵

You have entered the safe zone of sector 12,560.

Between one step and the next, I transitioned from the teleportation platform in Sango to the Roost in sector 12,560.

And once more, I found a reception committee waiting for me.

“He’s back!”

“Is he?” a second voice hissed back. “I don’t recognize the face. Who’s that?”

My skin tingled as the two forsworn posted in the Roost cast a series of analyzes over me—to no avail.

“It has to be him,” the first voice replied. “Saf said he may look different. And who else but a forerunner is going to teleport directly into the Roost?”

“Relax, you two,” I said, with amusement tracing my voice. “It is me.” Reaching into my pocket, I tossed a small stone chip in the pair’s direction. “That proves it.”

Studying the faction token I’d given them, Mariam and Deryn relaxed immediately. 

“Welcome back, Wolf Lord,” Mariam said formally.

I waved her greeting aside. “None of that now. How are things back home?”

“Progressing rapidly,” Deryn replied, his excitement shining through. “The safe zone has reappeared!”

“Excellent,” I murmured. “I assume our claim has already begun?”

Mariam nodded. “It has. The sector will be ours soon.” She paused. “Safyre asked us to watch for your return. Should we inform her you’re back?”

I shook my head. “No, I’ll do that myself. Open a portal to sector 12,560 for me please.”

Mariam inclined her head. “Of course.” Closing her eyes, she began whispering.

“Err… you might want to fix your face,” Deryn suggested as he returned my token. “If you enter the cave looking like that, Keros might skewer you before you have time to identify yourself.”

I laughed. “A valid point. I’ll do that.”

 ✵ ✵ ✵

You have dispelled your doppelganger spell, returning to your original form.

You have entered sector 18,240 of the Forever Kingdom. It is currently neutral territory, unclaimed by any faction or Force. Note, a shield generator is in place around the sector. 

Intrepid explorer activated. Sector 18,240 has gained a new location: sector safe zone. As the discoverer of the sector, the new location has automatically been added to your Log. Additionally, it will always shine bright in your mind, ensuring you are never lost.

Rift sense activated. There are no open rifts in this sector.

Game messages bombarded me on my re-entry into sector 18,240. I didn’t mind though. This time around, they had nothing but good news to share.

A grin spreading on my face, I waved to the windknight standing guard nearby and already fast approaching. “Afternoon, Keros,” I greeted. “It’s me. I’m back.”

Ignoring my cheerful demeanor entirely, the windknight drew to a halt before me, his poleaxe at the ready. “Token,” he demanded tersely.

“Come, Keros,” I admonished, “We accomplished the impossible today. Surely, that deserves a smile? Or, if not that, a warmer greeting at least.”

The scowl did not leave the forsworn’s face.

I sighed. “Have it your way,” I muttered and placed my faction chip in his waiting hand.

Keros grunted as he read the soulbound item’s data. “You’re clear to proceed.”

“Why, thank you,” I murmured, retrieving the stone chit. 

Striding past the windknight, I took in the rest of the cave. It was starkly empty. Not even the wolves had returned. “Where is everyone?”

“At the lake,” was the laconic response.

“Ah. The safe zone reappeared there then?” I surmised.

The windknight gave a clipped nod. “Yes. The others are busy securing it.” He shifted slightly. “You did well,” he added abruptly.

My eyebrows rose. As begrudging as Keros’s praise was, it was heartfelt, nonetheless. Today seems like a day for miracles. “Thank you,” I said, choosing not to comment further.

“Is the tree dead?” he asked.

“It is,” I replied. “The brotherhood helped with its slaying.”

A smile finally flickered across the stern knight’s face. “Good.” That was all he had to say on the matter, though. Swinging about, Keros returned to watching the teleportation zone. 

It was the only allowed arrival point in the sector. Anyone portaling in from outside the sector—even other forerunners—would have to go through the windknight first. 

And he was a much tougher ‘customs official’ than the ones the brotherhood employed. 

The smile slipped back onto my face at the comparison. For all of Keros’ dislike for me, and his generally frosty demeanor, I was grateful for his vigilance and steadfast duty. He was doing his part to keep the sector safe.

Still, we’ll have to change the arrival point soon, I mused. 

It would be more practical—not to mention, safer—to relocate the sector’s arrival point closer to the new safe zone where the bulk of our forces would be encamped from now on.

I drew a portal scroll from my backpack. For now, though, my journey was not quite done. Another short hop across the sector was required.

Drawing mana, I fed it into the item in my hand.

Portal scroll consumed. 

You have opened a greater portal within sector 18,240. 

✵ ✵ ✵

The nether toxicity at your current location is at tier 7. 

I chose the riverside gully as my exit point—and specifically the basin Safyre had dubbed as her command post during the battle—figuring that it was the most likely place I’d find her and the others.

But the basin, like the cave, was abandoned.

“Huh,” I muttered, turning about in a full circle as I studied the stark surroundings. Except for the ubiquitous mists, I was alone. The forerunner army was close by, though, I knew that much. I could hear them, not to mention feel their mindglows. 

Not unexpectedly, most of those I sensed were massed around the region my explorer trait told me was the safe zone. That was at least a few hundred yards northwest of my current position. Given that we had flooded the void tree’s former valley, that would put the safe nest in… 

…the newly created lake. 

I frowned. Had the Adjudicator really manifested the safe zone there? And if he had, how in hells were we supposed to fortify a body of water that occupied an area larger than one square mile?

Damn. That could spell trouble. 

Worried now that securing the safe zone might be trickier than I’d anticipated, I dashed forward. The basin’s sidewalls were steep and high, but they were no match for my speed and agility, and I bounded up without trouble.

A strange sight greeted me when I topped the basin.

The safe zone was in the lake.

In the exact center to be precise. 

It sat right atop the hill the void tree had so recently occupied. The hill had expanded, too, I noticed—or the water had receded—and now it was a small island about a hundred yards in diameter. 

The island was not the strange part, though.

The flat, elongated barges surrounding it were. 

There were dozens of the large contraptions drifting across the lake. Each bobbed up and down, and while water lapped at their sides, they appeared in no danger of sinking.

The barges can’t be as flat as they appear, I thought. Leaning forward unconsciously, I scrutinized the contraptions anew. 

And indeed, as I looked closer, I noticed the barges’ hulls curved upward, but the curvature was so slight as to be nearly imperceptible. I spotted other things, too.

The start of a spidery crack on the underside of one barge. The distinctive red-hued tone of another. And the solidness of a third. The short glimpse I caught of that barge’s edge suggested that its hull was at least six feet thick.

I blinked in sudden realization. The barges were actually solid chunks cut off from the overlord’s shell! 

Sliced off rather, I amended. 

Because as thick as the hull I’d noted was, I knew the overlord’s shell was thicker. Still, somehow, my allies had managed to harvest the remains of the two overlords we’d slain during the battle.

My gaze darted across the lake to where the two stygian Powers had been anchored. And sure enough, their bodies were nowhere to be seen. Unlike the previous overlords we’d destroyed, the pair had not been airborne when we’d killed them, which meant Safyre and the others had managed to recover their shells intact.

And no doubt, foreseeing the same difficulties I had with securing a water locked safe zone, they had come up with an ingenious solution.

Barges made from the overlords’ shells.

Each was at least thirty yards long and six yards wide, and even as I watched, ropes were being strung between them. Tugging on the ropes, the soldiers aboard the barges drew them closer until they locked in place end to end.

Thus creating a floating wall atop the water. 

Or rather, three walls. There were that many barges.

“By goddamn,” I murmured, impressed. “They’ve built a floating fort.” 

Now, I understood why I’d received no Game message informing me of the forerunners’ impending claim on the sector—it hadn’t started yet. 

Creating the fort was the reason for the delay. Until the three concentric barge circles around the island were complete and the more than one thousand soldiers aboard fully surrounded the island, the safe zone would still not be secured—technically anyway.

But by the looks of it, the work of building the fort was nearly done.

My eyes drifting further afield, I studied the thin translucent shield surrounding both the island and the inner half of the lake. All the barges lay inside the barrier, and given the absence of mist inside the dome-shaped magical construct, it was a safe bet to assume its purpose was to keep the mists out. Which I imagined was easier to do now that there wasn’t a void tree and two overlords hanging around and polluting the area.

Next, my gaze skipped to the lake’s shoreline. About half a mile of rocky open ground lay between me and the water’s edge.

And nearly all of it was littered with stygian corpses.

The forerunners’ nagians complement were working the area, piling and stacking the bodies—presumably for our players to loot later.

Speaking of which ...

Turning my head to the right, I spotted the ‘command’ barge. Safyre and the rest of the faction’s players were aboard. They hadn’t noticed me yet, none of the forerunners had.

Enough stalling, I thought with a small smile. Time to go say hello. Drawing psi, I shadow jumped.