Libriohexer ~ 22!

There was no one in the Barracks, and the Training Arena was equally lifeless. Sam was starting to get worried that something had happened when the smell of fried chicken hit his nose like a sucker punch. His mouth watered and his stomach grumbled in angry protest. “Just how long had it been since our last meal?”

“Longer for me than you.” Bill pretended to be hurt by the question. Sam ignored him and realized he had been so busy getting ready for his trip to the Marketplace that he’d totally skipped breakfast. Thanks to his impromptu chat with the O’Baba, he’d missed lunch as well. He was famished, and the thought of a warm meal drove every other thought from his mind. He beelined for the kitchen, following his nose more than anything else.

Sam and Bill found the rest of the Wolf Pack crowded around the rough-hewn table where they took most of their meals, mere moments away from digging into the massive spread laid out before them. Silver platters of deep-fried chicken dotted the table along with sweet coleslaw, a huge bowl of baked beans, and a tray of crispy yellow cornbread. Arrow and Kai were making the rounds with pitchers of Honey Mead in hand, pouring drinks for the rest of the Pack seated at the table. In the other room, Sam spotted Octo-Chef busily washing dishes in an oversized sink while simultaneously working on something that looked suspiciously like cake.

“Here, here!” Finn called while in the middle of spooning a generous helping of beans onto his plate. “If it isn’t the man of the hour! Our dearest Sam has returned to us alive and well.”

“See, Velkan,” Arrow gave the Wolfmen a pointed look, “I told you she wasn’t going to eviscerate him. The O’Baba’s nice.”

“I wouldn’t say that where she can hear you,” the Wolfman warned in a conspiratorial tone. “The O’Baba is notorious for her quick-fire temper. Still, the bet is the bet.”

He reached down to his belt and untied a small pouch full of coins and tossed it to the Ranger who snagged it from the air with nimble grace. Sam choked out, “You were betting on me being eviscerated?”

“Hey,” Arrow denied defensively, “I was in your corner.”

“So what happened, huh?” Dizzy seemed like she was ready to shake him for information. “How did it go?”

“Yeah, are we in business or what?” Arrow questioned around a mouthful of food. “I mean, I love chicken—don’t get me wrong—but we’re drowning in the stuff here. There’s more than we could eat in three months. If we don’t start selling it off soon, it’s going to go bad. Unless maybe Finn there manages to put it all on ice.”

“Boo!” Kai called, lightly tossing a roll at the Ranger’s head. “That was terrible. Was that an attempt at a joke?”

“All humor aside,” Arrow lightly snatched the roll from the air, “what’s the deal?”

“What’s the deal?” Sam reached into his flask and pulled free the two hefty leather pouches of gold. He dropped them both on the table with a clinking *thunk* that drew every eye in the room. “We got the deal, that’s what. Minimum two hundred pounds of poultry per week, fifty pounds of enhanced poultry, and five hundred eggs.”

Arrow nearly choked. “Per week?”

“Yep. Should bring us north of three-thousand dollars a week—nearly twelve grand a month. It’s not a fortune, but it's a start. I think those rates are only going to go up as we start producing rarer types of chicken breeds.”

The Pack cheered and hefted their mugs, sloshing with Honey Ale.  Kai slapped the table to get the room’s attention. “Okay, enough business talk. I totally gotta know about the Wolfman Marketplace. What was it like, dude? Was it as cool as I’m imagining?”

“Cooler,” Sam dropped into his customary seat near Finn. “It’s got everything. Hands down, it’s better than anything Ardania has to offer by leaps and bounds. Plus, there are Wolfmen from all over the continent. It’s massive. Bigger than New Narvik, if you can believe it.”

“Wait, what?” Dizzy frowned as she realized what that meant. “How does that work? I thought the Wolfmen purposely spread their camps out to prevent human infiltration. Having one mega marketplace sort of seems to defeat the purpose of that.”

“That’s because it’s not a camp,” Sam pulled over a plate and started to load it down with food. Chicken thighs and slaw, a heap of beans and several pieces of warm bread. The Octo-Chef was a divine gift from above. “It’s a hub with multiple entryways, sort of like the Totem Training Grounds. We think it’s actually some sort of Interspatial Library.”

“Correction!” Bill exclaimed loudly. “I think it might be an Interspatial Library, which is how you know it actually is an Interspatial Library.”

“But I thought that sort of magic was incredibly rare?” Finn stole a sidelong glance at them.

“Oh, it is,” Bill floated down to smell the fried chicken at close range. “At least among Mages. I’ve read books on theory and I even met a colleague once upon a time who’d managed to build one—though that was a couple hundred years ago. He never did tell me the secret. Mages are like that. They covet knowledge and like to hide things. Gives ’em an edge when they’re trying to get tenure. But the Wolfman? Yeah, I think the Shamans know the ins and outs of the process. All we need to do now is get them to spill the beans.”

“Which leads me to the next thing we need to talk about,” Sam decided that now was a good time to break the news. “Bill and I went and talked with the O’Baba. We wanted to know the secret behind the Totem Grounds. She didn’t explicitly confirm that they are Interspatial Libraries, but she certainly hinted at it. But she also flat-out refused to tell us how they work. She says there are still factions within the Wolfmen who don’t trust us. If we want to get the secret, we need to raise our reputation with people. And not just a little. We need to obtain the Extended Family rank status.”

Velkan’s shoulders slumped under the weight of the revelation. “It is impossible. No outsider has ever been given such honor. Many Wolfmen don’t even have such a reputation amongst our people. Such a reputation is reserved only for the O’Baba and the most respected clan leaders.”

“Maybe not,” Sam’s words shattered the sudden tension. “The O’Baba offered me a quest. She said that the only way to do it is to strike a fatal blow against a powerful human institution. A blow so devastating that no one can deny our loyalty to the People. If we can do that, she’ll give me the Title ‘Right Hand of The People’.”

Velkan’s breath caught and his eyes widened comically. “But that is the rank of a High General. Why would she promise such a thing?”

“Because,” Bill explained patiently, “she also let us know in no uncertain terms that there is a political faction that is just waiting to see her drop the ball so they can replace her as O’Baba. The sense I got was that she risked a lot by extending us membership in the Pack. She took a risk, and she needs it to pay off in a big way. She needs allies and we’re it.”

“Which is also why she dropped a major hint about how we might accomplish such an enormous undertaking,” Sam had everyone’s undivided attention in a way that rarely happened. “Turns out, there is going to be a trial tomorrow at the Mage’s College. A big one for a Rogue Mage named Joe. The Arch-Mage has issued an edict recalling every mage in good standing to the College. They’re all going to be gathered together to witness the Arch-Mage's justice.”

This time it was Finn who sputtered, eyes bulging. He ran a hand through his lank hair. “Bloody abyss, but this Joe must’ve really kicked the hornet’s nest to get that kind of response. The last time the Arch-Mage issued an Arcana Edict like that, I was still in nappies.”

“What happened?” Dizzy demanded.

“Oh, the usual,” Finn's head seemed to have gained a dozen pounds by the way it slowly swung to face her. “Insurrection. That’s about the only thing that warrants that kind of response. The Arch-Mage rules with an iron grip, and he doesn’t take contenders lightly. About twenty years ago, there was a Senior Mage by the name Talek Berk who went Rogue. An ugly bit of business. He started circulating rumors that the Arch-Mage was using forbidden magics to enthrall members of the College.”

“The Senior Mage’s consortium denied the allegations, but ol’ Talek still managed to recruit a small cohort of upstart mages to join his cause. Nine of them in total. They infiltrated the College under cover of darkness and blew up part of the western wing of the College. The Arch-Mage himself took down Talek, and the rebellion fizzled without his leadership. The whole lot of them were eventually rounded up for treason against the Crown and College, and every Mage in the Kingdom was ordered to attend the execution. Their cores were fed to the Accords.”

Kai whistled through his teeth. “Dude, that’s intense. Should we try to help this Joe guy? He’s got to be a traveler. Could be a good recruit.”

“I’d be onboard with a prison break,” Arrow agreed as he leaned back in his chair and dabbed at his chin with a cloth napkin.

“Not a snowball’s chance in the Inferno,” Bill harshly negated that line of thinking. “They’ll be keeping him in the Sanctuary of Solitude.”

“Sounds sort of nice,” Kai quipped. “Like some kind of monastery.”

“It is anything but,” Finn replied with a shiver. “The Sanctuary of Solitude is a prison, and not a particularly humane one. It’s located in the bowels of the College, not far from the sewers.”

His eyes glazed over, hazy and distant. “It’s a lonely place. The cells are dark, dank, and cold—plus the whole place reeks like the inside of a chamber pot. That’s where they kept me after Sam managed to escape with Bill. I spent many a night down there, chilled to the bone, praying that I would survive to see the morning.”

“But if it’s close to the sewers, maybe we could break in just like we did the last time,” Sphinx offered excitedly. “It would be tough, but we pulled it off once.”

“I doubt very much that trick is going to work twice,” Finn stated matter-of-factly. “They’ve probably beefed up the sewer security system tenfold since that stunt. Besides, even if we got in through the sewers, we’d never be able to get him out of his cell. The Sanctuary of Solitude is warded to the gills and heavily guarded. From there, he’ll be escorted by the Silencers—the College’s anti-mage strike force—to the Accord Chamber. The Silencers are a force of nature. We couldn’t beat them in a fight without a small army at our back. Maybe not even then.”

“Yeah, we’ll never get him out of there,” Bill agreed sadly. “I hate leaving a good mage to rot, but I don’t see any way to help the poor guy.”

“What about the Accord Chamber itself?” Dizzy wondered quietly as the group had a moment of silence for the random gamer, Joe. “Is there some way we can take it out?”

“That was our first thought, too,” Bill agreed just before shooting the idea down. “But the logistics just aren’t feasible. Getting into the Accords Chamber might be doable, but launching an attack would be suicide. The Arch-Mage is going to be present, and he’s got enough magical muscle to lock us down with the twitch of his pinky finger. But the kid and I did have another thought. Talked it over on the way back and we think it might be our best chance to cripple the College. Maybe not forever, but at least for a little while.”

“Another library run?” Finn quirked an eyebrow.

“No,” Sam shook his head and explained, “They’ll see that coming a hundred miles off. Like you said, the Arch-Mage isn’t dumb. He might be preoccupied with Joe, but there’s no way he’s forgotten about us. I’d bet all the gold I have that he’s expecting us to take a stab at the Infinity Athenaeum. With all the Mages and guards present for the trial, there really is no better chance.”

“It would be just like him,” Bill chuckled darkly. “He’s a monster, but a shrewd one. He’ll know this is too big of an opportunity for us to pass up. The problem is, the College is too massive to protect every entry, so he’ll focus the few resources he can spare on the areas he thinks we’ll strike at.”

“Like the Library,” Dizzy acknowledged the point.

“Bingo,” Sam gave her a thumbs-up. “Which is why we’re going to avoid the Library like the plague. Instead, Bill and I think we should hit the Trustees Arcana.”

Finn’s jaw dropped and he slapped a hand against his forehead. “Of course.”

“What in the abyss are the Trustees Arcana?” Kai chuckled at the name as if it were a dirty joke.

“Not what,” Sam leaned forward, “but who.”

“The Trustees Arcana are powerful mages that serve at the pleasure and discretion of the Arch-Mage,” Finn explained to the group. “They’re all incredibly high level and powerful, and the Repository of Trustees is the one place that will still be staffed during the Trial."

“Wait,” Kai rubbed the bridge of his nose. “I’m like, more confused than ever. So there’s going to be this huge trial, and all the mages are going to be in the Accords Chamber, which means the rest of the College is going to be more or less a ghost town… right?”

“Right,” Sam agreed.

“But you guys want to go to the one place that still has mages in it?”

“Also yes,” Bill smirked at the direction this conversation was going..

“Okay. So yeah. I think you just broke my brain,” the Monk groaned. “Maybe break it down for me Barney-style. Why in the world would we want to go to the one place in the College that still has people in it?”

“Because normally the Repository of Trustees is impossible to get too. This might be a once in a lifetime chance to take those old geezers out!” Bill crowed excitedly. “Man would I love to do that. More than a couple of them are responsible for bookifying me! See, the Trustees are all incredibly high-leveled, but they’re as harmless as kittens. Sure, any of them can harness and channel more mana than the next five mages combined, but their class precludes them from learning offensive spells.”

“So what are they, exactly?” Dizzy was taking notes at this point.

“They’re the magical bureaucrats that keep the College running,” Bill was still chuckling like an evil overlord. “They do all the important but enormously tedious work that no one else wants to do. Basically, the Trustees maintain the infrastructure of the school. They monitor the sewers, care for the grounds, reinforce and strengthen the spatial tethers that hold the College together. Several of them are Contractualists who monitor the ebb and flow of mana to and from the Accords themselves. The College can’t run without ’em, but they couldn’t fight their way out of a wet paper bag if you gave ’em a map and a sword.”

“They’re going to be totally vulnerable,” Finn agreed with a wicked grin.

“Kinda dark. Still… we do what we have to do.” Dizzy nodded slowly, finally starting to get it. “It’ll be like shooting fish in a barrel.”

“Precisely,” Finn clapped his hands together in excitement. “If we can take out enough of the Trustees, it’ll hobble the College. Plus, it’s the ultimate chance to power level.”

“Hit it on the head,” Sam agreed earnestly. “One of the greatest benefits to being on team Wolfman is that we get experience points from killing humans. The system that runs Eternium isn’t going to care that we’re killing a bunch of defenseless Mages. All it’s going to see is that we, a bunch of level ten and elevens are wiping out characters that have two or three times as many levels as we do. This is going to be an all you can eat buffet of experience. The only catch is that we have less than twelve hours to orchestrate the greatest assault on the College in history.”

“Well, what the abyss are we sitting around here for,” Dizzy stood abruptly. “We have work to do. Bill, I’ll need maps of the College. Sphinx, we’re going to need guard uniforms and Novice robes. Arrow, you’re on potions.”

“Let’s move people, and I mean now!”