Meribson's Writing Nook

Ashen Ring 1 (Elden Ring, commission)

Added 2023-04-13 19:00:02 +0000 UTC

“You are sure of this?” D̷̢̧̢́̕͜҉e̶̷͠҉͝͏͏҉á҉̧̛͢͡͝͠ţ̷̢̕̕͟͡҉h̸́́͏̸̶͜͢ ̸̷̨̧́͢͢͠ớ̷̸̕͜͟͠f̸̡̡̛̛̛͟҉ ̵̸̵̸̕͝͝͡t҉̕͟͏̛͟͜͡h̷҉̸̧͟͢͞͏e͢͏̷̴̴̵͢͠ ̷̨̛́̀͘͢͡Ę̨́͏̀͝͞҉n͜҉̀͜҉̸̸͝ḑ̴̴̕͢͜͞͞l̵̸̶̡̧̕̕͡ę̴͢͢͏̴̨͜s̛҉̶̷͘͢͜͞s̷̸̡̧̧͘͢͡ asked her Master.

“I am,” the man said, not sparing her a glance. “There is a war coming, and we need the forces to deal with the forces of The Bureau, The Guild, The Chainbound, and The Compact. Too many of my fellows think raw power for our forces will be enough, ignoring the fact that the most likely foes will have had just as long to gain their own power, but actually know what the fuck they’re doing!”

D̷̢̧̢́̕͜҉e̶̷͠҉͝͏͏҉á҉̧̛͢͡͝͠ţ̷̢̕̕͟͡҉h̸́́͏̸̶͜͢ ̸̷̨̧́͢͢͠ớ̷̸̕͜͟͠f̸̡̡̛̛̛͟҉ ̵̸̵̸̕͝͝͡t҉̕͟͏̛͟͜͡h̷҉̸̧͟͢͞͏e͢͏̷̴̴̵͢͠ ̷̨̛́̀͘͢͡Ę̨́͏̀͝͞҉n͜҉̀͜҉̸̸͝ḑ̴̴̕͢͜͞͞l̵̸̶̡̧̕̕͡ę̴͢͢͏̴̨͜s̛҉̶̷͘͢͜͞s̷̸̡̧̧͘͢͡ made comforting noises as she reached up and massaged his shoulders. He was tense, far more than she could remember him ever being. Her gaze slid over to the spreadsheets in front of him. Over two thousand potential recruits, each one being sent to a world with a Danger Rating of eight, at minimum. Clusters of recruits being sent to different Worldlengths, to prevent them from working together, with the budget of the Danger Rating being split between them.

She winced as she saw that fifteen were being sent to the Mass Effect Milky Way during the Reaper Invasion. That meant that each of the fifteen would be given a budget of barely over one hundred Company Credits. At least he wasn’t requiring them to defeat the Reapers, merely obtain enough local resources to meet quota. Five were being sent to Azeroth during the Invasion of Northrend, another five during the Third Legion Invasion, and five more during the Fourth War.

Those were just the ones that she saw at a glance, turning her focus back to her Master, D̷̢̧̢́̕͜҉e̶̷͠҉͝͏͏҉á҉̧̛͢͡͝͠ţ̷̢̕̕͟͡҉h̸́́͏̸̶͜͢ ̸̷̨̧́͢͢͠ớ̷̸̕͜͟͠f̸̡̡̛̛̛͟҉ ̵̸̵̸̕͝͝͡t҉̕͟͏̛͟͜͡h̷҉̸̧͟͢͞͏e͢͏̷̴̴̵͢͠ ̷̨̛́̀͘͢͡Ę̨́͏̀͝͞҉n͜҉̀͜҉̸̸͝ḑ̴̴̕͢͜͞͞l̵̸̶̡̧̕̕͡ę̴͢͢͏̴̨͜s̛҉̶̷͘͢͜͞s̷̸̡̧̧͘͢͡ asked, “If you’re sure, will you be doing the builds yourself again?”

“Most of them, a few I want to see what they do on their own. The point of this exercise is to foster cunning and ambition after all, rather than a bunch of thugs who go charging into battle with all the subtlety of a troll with an ingrown toenail,” he groused with a grumble.

“And yet the successors of his buffoonish approach still manage to leave behind messes for the rest of us to clean up. Gather your sisters, I will have the Recruits for the cluster being sent to the War of Jewels ready shortly,” he said, stretching his fingers as he began directing his will into the magitech computers in front of him.

Salazar Slytherin, senior member of The Company’s Counter-Intelligence and Internal Affairs Division, didn’t respond as the embodiment of Death left his office, focusing instead on his self-appointed task. This would be the first time that he’d directly overseen recruitment of any kind in nearly seven hundred years, but the old tricks and skills hadn’t left him.

After five minutes, he’d completed the builds for five clusters when the door to his office opened and a shaky voice said, “S-sir? Missus E sent me for the completed clusters.”

He glanced over at the new arrival. Oriental but blonde with red eyes and wearing the gloves The Company offered to those who could not afford to let sweat impair their manual dexterity. He vaguely recalled claiming her on his last vacation world, and it seems she still hadn’t recovered from the breaking of her pride he’d given her.

Tapping a few keys, he sent the completed clusters to her tablet, before turning back to his work. He’d started early, the clock on his system showing it was only just now switching t…

[hr][/hr]

An explosion rocked the station, and D̷̢̧̢́̕͜҉e̶̷͠҉͝͏͏҉á҉̧̛͢͡͝͠ţ̷̢̕̕͟͡҉h̸́́͏̸̶͜͢ ̸̷̨̧́͢͢͠ớ̷̸̕͜͟͠f̸̡̡̛̛̛͟҉ ̵̸̵̸̕͝͝͡t҉̕͟͏̛͟͜͡h̷҉̸̧͟͢͞͏e͢͏̷̴̴̵͢͠ ̷̨̛́̀͘͢͡Ę̨́͏̀͝͞҉n͜҉̀͜҉̸̸͝ḑ̴̴̕͢͜͞͞l̵̸̶̡̧̕̕͡ę̴͢͢͏̴̨͜s̛҉̶̷͘͢͜͞s̷̸̡̧̧͘͢͡ felt the tether that had slaved her mind to the piece of scum she’d called a Master for the last nine centuries snap. Those around her, women who had their minds, bodies, and souls violated by The Company just as she had, all stood rattled.

Katsumi looked at her hands, the tablet she’d been holding forgotten on the floor. With a snarl, she ripped the gloves off her hands, nearly weeping at seeing the small pops forming in her palms. She looked up, meeting the eyes of her fellow victims, grinning like she hadn’t in decades.

“What say we fuck some shit up?” she asked.

“You can,” one of their number said, the only one who didn’t seem shocked. Two dozen heads turned to look at her, even as her skin split open at the seams and gleaming cybernetics unfolded out of her. “Or you can take a leap of faith. The Bureau would be more than happy to assist you in your recovery. If you would like to strike back at The Company as part of that recovery, well, that’s just good business.”

“V?” a whiskered blonde girl asked.

“Sorry, for taking so long,” the edgerunner said as she finished unfolding all of her inner cyberware and spat out a Stargate. “An agent of The Bureau broke his control over me three months ago, took this long to figure out a way to kill him he wouldn’t see coming. The Bureau agent offered me a chance to sign up with them for a bit of payback, and I fully intend to take it. Are any of you with me?”

“Count me in,” Katsumi said as she walked up to the Stargate as V dialed in the coordinates.

The rest of the former retinue members soon joined her, and the harem of one of The Company’s finest Counter Intelligence Agents left. Together, they would form the backbone of The Company’s most terrifying adversaries in the war that would shortly ensue. This story is not about them.

Forgotten in the euphoria of freedom, the tablet containing the completed recruit clusters lay on the floor, showing a flashing “ORDERS CONFIRMED” across its screen. Twenty potential recruits were sent away from their home to the worlds that Salazar had chosen for them. Some were sent not knowing what they would receive, some got to choose their gifts. One such a recruit found his adventure progressing far differently than he’d anticipated.

[hr][/hr]

I looked around, taking in the wasteland I found myself in and winced as the stench of constant, endless rot filled my nose. Geeze, and I thought the stink in the city back home was bad. Here it smelled like a freezer full of meat that had flies feasting at it for a week. I stood from the spot I’d landed in, the armor on my body clanking lightly.

“Ashen One?” a voice to my left spoke, drawing my attention. I turned, and was met with the sight of the armor clad Anri of Astora. Seeing she had my attention, she asked, hand on the hilt of her sword, “Where are we?”

“If I had to guess?” I began, looking out over the hazy environment. “We’re in a region known as Caelid. One of the countries of a plane called The Land Between. Everything here is infested with a disease called the Scarlet Rot.”

“Delightful,” a regal woman’s voice drawled, and I turned to look at Yuria of Londor, her face turned towards the sky. “Clearly this ‘Scarlet Rot’ is not natural, otherwise it would not have turned the sky itself red. That means there must be another force behind this blight, or else the Rot would never come into being.”

There was a sound of rustling, and all of our attention was pulled from each other to our surroundings. My hand went to the zweihander on my back, and my instincts screamed at me to dodge. I was rolling before the instinct was even half finished, and a pair of massive jaws snapped shut where my torso had been.

“What manner of beast is this?!” my Fire Keeper shouted, scrambling away from the dinosaur sized dog.

“Giant dog,” I answered, readying my blade. “Big, strong, fast, and some of them can vomit scarlet rot.”

“Any weak points?” Yuria asked as she readied her own blade.

Before I could answer, the giant dog let out a barking roar and charged us. Fire Keeper, Yuria, and I all dodged aside, but Anri rolled under its slavering maw, raising her longsword up and cutting through the skin and muscle of its underside. It let out a cry of pain, but it was still well enough to stamp down at her, who scrambled away.

“They’re still flesh and blood,” I answered Yuria’s question as Anri got out from under the now thoroughly pissed off giant dog. “But they’ve adapted to scarlet rot in a way that makes them really tough.”

Anything else I was going to say was cut off as there was a veritable wave of bright blue flames that cut across the ground to slam into the giant dog. Yuria and I both turned to look at Fire Keeper in surprise. Her eyes were covered, but she had a look of determination on her face as she stood in a stance that looked… wait, is that a firebending stance?

The yelping cry of pain from the giant dog made both of us refocus. Turning our attention back to it, I was pleasantly surprised to see it on its side, half of it looking like a charred steak at a summer barbecue. Yuria and I both raced towards it, blades ready even as Anri stabbed her sword into the dog’s now exposed belly.

My zweihander bit deep into its back, cutting through fur, as Yuria’s katana sang through the air, severing its neck in a picture perfect iaijutsu cut. The dog collapsed, the scarlet rot in its body rapidly consuming what was left of it. All three of us scrambled back, as Fire Keeper sent another burst of flame. The very familiar blue fire consumed the corpse, the red ground underneath it burning away under the heat.

I took a breath, turning my gaze back to Fire Keeper, who was taking several deep breaths of her own. Not quite letting my guard down, in case more giant dogs approached, I asked, “I’m assuming your previous retinue included a young woman named Azula?”

Her head turned slightly in my direction as she answered, “Yes, she was extremely talented in her world’s version of pyromancy.”

The one member in my retinue that I purchased a Used copy of, and she’d studied under the waifu who epitomized ‘don’t stick your dick in crazy’. Because of course that was what happened.

“Were there any other lessons she taught you, besides firebending?” I asked, relaxing a little as no more dogs approached.

“Indeed,” she answered, and I had a sinking feeling in my gut. “Her lessons on misdirection and how to disappear into a crowd with the loot were quite thorough.”

Wait…

“‘The loot’?” I asked, turning to face her fully.

Fire Keeper nodded, as Anri and Yuria joined us, “Yes, Azula spent the majority of her life on the streets of the Earth Empire’s capital city of Ba Sing Se. The head of our retinue recruited her after helping her escape from the soldiers under Emperor Bumi.”

I stared at her, before saying, “Oh… kay? That is… very different from the versions of that world that I’m familiar with. In… every variation of it that I can think of.”

Fire Keeper looked at me with a surprised expression, but Anri spoke up before she could say anything, “Perhaps we might continue this discussion at a later point? Is there any sort of safe harbor we can rest at, and start a bonfire?”

Right, that was a very good point. Sighing, I thought back to my memories of playing Elden Ring. After a moment, I answered, “There’s three groups trying to combat the scarlet rot: the Beastial Sanctum, the Dragon Barrow, and the Redmane Army. The Redmane Army is the largest and is primarily equipped with various fire based weapons and magic, the Beastial Sanctum has powers related to death, and the Dragon Barrow possesses more fire than the entire Redmane Army combined.

“Of the three groups, we’re most likely to be welcomed by the Redmane Army, especially given Fire Keeper’s tutelage under Azula. But seeing as we don’t have maps, we’ll have to just start with trying to find a road.”

“It is not as if we possess any other options. Lead on, Ashen One,” Yuria said, her katana making a quiet ‘click’ sound as she sheathed it.

With that, I half shrugged, picked a direction, and started walking. I probably should have used a point or two of my very limited budget to get a map, but I hadn’t had the funds. Still, as I leaned into the Talents that I did have, I got a rough sense of where I needed to go. It wasn’t anywhere as specific as a quest marker or a minimap or something like that, but it was better than nothing.