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Chapter 333: Blake and the Two Towers
🕑 Added 2024-08-22 14:00:05 +0000 UTCBlake and his unlikely band of heroes left the orc’s White Tower and entered the Grey without much difficulty. Having the tower lord's son probably helped.
Even so, the guards stared long and hard at the humans and goblins, then at the Stoneblood prince. They forced him to separate from the others, where they asked him in several different ways if he was some kind of captive, or if he needed assistance.
Blake listened in with Mental Influence, fighting the grin as his potential rival for Ilya's affections got increasingly angry and embarrassed.
Soon enough, though, they were admitted, and a growing crowd of orcs followed them down into the bowels of the tower. Blake supposed his cluster of constructs didn't much help with the spectacle. He'd done his best to keep them all small and roughly orc-sized, a bit worried they may not fit into whatever challenges lay ahead.
But a handful of thumping, faceless, stone-like warriors was pretty hard to keep incognito. The noise would bring attention, then of course the orcs would notice the humans, and probably start remembering the human who had recently killed the giant orc tyrant that locked them down. Blake nodded to a few, and did his best to smile.
"I can't tell if they want to hug us or kill us," Seul-ki muttered.
"With orcs it's probably both," Blake said back, still smiling and nodding.
"Are you reading their minds?"
"I am not." Blake sighed and let Navi out, always enjoying the little clicks and buzzes as his 'familiar' floated into the air and made its initializing sounds. "I try not to use my mind powers unless strictly necessary these days," he added, then looked into Seul-ki's exotic eyes. "I suggest you do the same. People tend to be a bit...extreme about them."
She nodded. But not very convincingly. As usual, Blake was reminded how difficult to read and also dangerous the Korean was, but he was damned if being around her didn't send a little thrill up his spine. Another personality flaw, no doubt, but there it was.
The young orc lord led them beneath the Stoneblood forges, near a now familiar waste pit that had the players holding their noses.
"I was actually going to hide here once," Blake called pleasantly over the sounds of the workers above. "But I was rather desperate at the time. You should really consider plumbing."
Their guide ignored him, leading them through several more corridors, past a blocked off gate with two guards, and finally to barely perceptible swirling darkness hidden against black clay.
"A demonic portal, Master," Navi said.
"Thank you, Navi, but I'd figured this one out on my own."
He assumed it was a dungeon, technically speaking, but the in-game characters and narrative rarely used the language of the 'game', it seemed. Though he supposed the orcs did at least seem to understand classes, so they might have more knowledge of the rules than he expected.
"Everyone ready?" he asked, walking forward to hold a hand towards the portal. "I don't expect we can change our minds inside."
"I am ready, wizard," said the young Stoneblood, his courage kind of annoying. Everyone else nodded or confirmed they were ready, and Blake put his hand to the darkness.
[Dungeon discovered: Ancient Grey Tower Prison. This is a mortal dungeon for up to six players. Would you like to continue?]
Prison, Blake thought. How interesting.
It hadn't been what he was expecting. He'd assumed it was more like a portal to some kind of demonic hell, and they'd have to 'close' it on the other end. Now he wasn't so sure. The fact that it allowed six players and he only had three, was also slightly concerning. But there was nothing for it now. He would have to rely on the assassin, the stoneblood lord…and, whatever the hell Pliny exactly was.
He clicked his confirmation, and in a now familiar pattern, felt the world vanish like a dream.
*
"I'm going to kill you, little orc! Descendant of the betrayer! Then I'll scoop out your pathetic brain and feed it to your friends!"
Blake blinked and raised a brow at the booming, and rather terrifying words. Nice to see demons were at least consistent.
The world was re-appearing and he tried to make out what he was looking at, but for the moment saw only mist and maybe two bonfires glowing in the...
Nope. They were eyes. Huge, demonic eyes, floating in steam or fog in a huge cavern. It was hard to judge the distance, but whatever this thing was, it had to be enormous.
"By the gods," swore the Stoneblood lord, clutching some kind of charm in one hand so tight his knuckles paled. The others were looking similarly terrified, but Blake knew there'd be more than met the eye. He turned and looked around the cavern, whispering for Navi to go exploring.
"Yes, Master," buzzed his inappropriately happy familiar, floating up into the mist.
Blake’s eyes were adjusting slightly, which turned out to be a good news, bad news sort of situation. First of all, he could sort of see the demon. That was the bad news.
It stood like a living colossus, red-skinned with hooves and horns, like an image of Satan plucked from some medieval Christian's mind.
The good news was that it was shackled. Like really shackled. Glowing, silver chains held all its limbs to the cavern walls (and roof, and floor). Some kind of symbols were etched along the metal links, all shining bright with magic. The demon strained and tried to come forward, the chains going taut with a terrifying rattle and clang. But they held him fast.
"They won't hold me long, insects," the demon growled. "Already the magic fades."
It smiled, which was horrifying enough, gaping maw opened to reveal a nightmarish circle of fangs. But it also laughed like a villainous donkey.
"Your people are doomed, betrayer. Soon I will be free. And you will all pay for your arrogance. Your deception."
"We cannot win here, wizard," said the Stoneblood orc as he lifted his axe. "But our deaths will be glorious."
"'Can't’ and ‘win' aren't really words I put together," Blake said, still inspecting the cavern. He could see more symbols now, covering the walls, the floor, the roof. Many of these were glowing, too, and in many cases it looked like the symbols actually flowed together. Like a kind of...trail, or connecting puzzle. He walked close to the nearest wall.
"Ready your weapons, then!" called the orc, chest heaving as he seemed to be building the courage to charge.
"A moment, please," Blake said, eyes and both halves of his mind watching the symbols, trying to understand. He let one half focus with his True Making vision, looking for runes or magic or...
"Master!" Navi dropped from the mist with a grin. "I believe the chains are powered with thousands of Binding Runes. They are failing, but they can be re-activated."
Blake began to smile as he saw a thin line of energy flowing from the bottom of the cavern. It looked like a river blocked by a dam, the flow trapped but ready to break free and fill the drying slope with fresh life.
"It's a puzzle," he said, mostly to himself, still smiling. "A giant puzzle filled with runes. How delightful."
As he looked closer at the walls he was reminded of the Maker Hall—the construction similar in style, a combination of stone and metallic materials seamlessly engineered. He supposed he should have been frightened of the huge demon trying to kill them all, but mostly he was excited to see what new knowledge he might find.
"What are we doing, wizard!" the orc growled, still insanely ready to charge and...well, get butchered, no doubt.
"Get nowhere near that demon," Blake said, turning to Pliny. "Do you see the symbols?"
"Yes," whispered the half dead goblin, looking almost as excited as Blake. "So much power. So many...secrets."
"Indeed." Blake glanced at Seul-ki with a raised brow. “And you, my dear?”
"I see arcane energy. It's dim everywhere but the floor. I see...lines? But I don't see any symbols."
"Interesting," Blake said, not sure how best to use the others yet. "I'm going to start there." He pointed at the trapped energy. "Look around the room for any other sources of energy, Seul-ki. Pliny, go with her. If you can see any way to get that energy moving, start with that."
"Yes, Master," hissed the goblin, practically leaping around Seul-ki in circles until she started moving.
The demon growled again, its eyes turning straight towards Blake as it pulled at its chains.
"I should have known this stupid orc wouldn't be in charge. What has it promised you? Whatever it is, the price will be too high. You will not leave this place alive, human. You made a terrible mistake coming here."
Blake did enjoy the mockery of Lord Stoneblood, but he wasn't paying much attention. He walked in a slightly curving path towards the energy, staying as far away from the demon as possible.
More and more runes entered his vision, the 'line' of energy Seul-ki mentioned getting more obvious. He had to get that energy flowing around the room, probably ending at the many chains. He had to 're-bind' the demon, and keep it trapped. Probably before it killed them all.
No pressure, Blake.
"What do we do?" the orc called in obvious frustration, looking at Annie and Blake's many constructs, his axe still raised.
Blake arrived at the energy and reached out a hand, realizing he could manipulate the symbols like...moving tiles. As he turned one, the line of energy linked up to the source, and the 'river' flowed into it just a little further. He grinned, reaching for the next tile before he heard a hum on the air.
The familiar, pleasant scent of arcane energy filled his nostrils, and Blake turned to see the demon glowing with power. All around the cavern he saw small, spinning circles beginning to form.
"Oh, I expect you'll be busy," Blake muttered, realizing they were portals long before Navi shouted as much from above.
He mentally readied his constructs to take position around the cavern, supposing a nice, relaxing puzzle would have just been too damn easy. Even if a demon was waiting to kill him if he'd been too slow.
"You’re so dramatic," he sighed, thinking of roboGod. Then called to the others. "There's demons coming through the portals.” He turned his eyes back to the puzzle. "Do try and kill them before they interrupt me."
