AN: 1 As you can see I've made a name change.

Chapter 3

 

Except it wasn’t the quest. Not straight away. It was a dilemma.

 

The Foolish Mortal’s Gambit

Agreeing to receive this divine quest means the Pandaemonium waypoint dedicated to the Shattered Goddess will be closed immediately. It cannot be reopened until this quest has been completed.

There is No Shame in Retreat

You reject the offer of the quest, and everyone can go their separate ways to do as they wish. (If you do not choose an option within one minute this choice will be defaulted in.)

 

I was incensed. Incandescently angry, which was an unusual emotion for me. This was my first official system quest, and that damnable little sprite was trying to screw everything up out of petty spite. Sealing our way out was never supposed to be part of the deal and the time limit the dilemma came with meant I didn’t have the time to rustle up reinforcements or supplies for a prolonged stay.

“You did this, didn’t you, Quincy,” I growled in a low whisper.

{I have no idea what you are talking about.}

“The damn dilemma. This was never part of the deal.”

{Says you} he snorted back at me. {Maybe your lazy champion of a boss couldn't be bothered to complete the quest himself neglected to pass on all the details.}

“You didn’t want to be here, that much is clear. What's clearer is that you believe I’m a coward you can bully into doing what you want. Which is to abandon the quest and let you off the hook.”

{That sounds like projection to me} the sprite sniffed with disdain. {Don’t blame others for your own failings. It’s not a mature look.}

“You’ve underestimated me,” I snapped and made my choice. The Foolish Mortal’s Gambit.

The regret was almost instant. It had been a decision made in anger and moreover impacted people other than me. I wouldn’t be the only person potentially trapped down here until the quest was completed. That didn’t mean I wouldn’t have made the same choice after some careful deliberation. This new world rewarded those who took risks. However, I preferred to take a calculated risk and not one based on an emotional response.

 

*** Divine quest recalibrating…***

 

{What is this?} Quincy squeaked, which meant he was also privy to the system messages I received and hadn’t expected any kind of alteration.

{This is an outrage!} He followed up with. The second comment suggesting he was a step ahead of me and had already been privy to the recalibrated quest.

Finally, the quest was presented to me, and I could see for myself what had got the sprite’s back up.

 

*** Divine Extermination 1 (K)

A piece of a nascent divinity lurks within this section of Pandaemonium. The beast you must seek and eliminate is a Rat King. The knotted tails of its verminous members have fused to form a new, shared, telepathic organ. Not only can the individuals that make up the local rat king communicate mentally with each other, but they are linked to every other rat king that has been created throughout the Darkwyrlds. Together they have merged to become a gestalt entity.

The Many Tailed One.

The Many Tailed One seeks to become a god. The Shattered Goddess opposes such an ascension. There is room for only one deity made up of many cacophonous voices.

Her.

Go forth and hunt down the vermin which infest these tunnels. Find their master, the Rat King, and destroy him.

Success: The Rat King is this section of Pandaemonium is destroyed and sufficient numbers of the local vermin mobs (Diseased Rats, Giant Rats, Mutated Rats, Rataurs, and Scags) are purged to prevent a replacement rat king from easily being created.

Pre-reward: (Optional) Class change to the K-grade class, Herald of the Ever-Shifting Flame. Note if this optional pre-reward is chosen, you will not be allowed to leave Pandaemonium until the quest is completed. This requirement is not extended to members of your party who may leave through any other waypoint that they find.

As Herald of the Ever-Shifting Flame, you will be accompanied by the sprite Quincy. The sprite will not be bonded with you on a molecular level as happens with imps and fairies, but he must avail himself to your service whenever you call upon him.

Rewards: 3,400 XP and future divine extermination quests. A complete real-time map of the Pandaemonium network that connects in any way to the borders of Michigan.

The Stormblade Harbour waypoint will be reactivated, and the reception zone will be fitted with a vacant dungeon shard that can be claimed by a dungeon avatar with the appropriate abilities.

Failure: If this quest goes incomplete then you will have to find an alternate exit from Pandaemonium and you will forfeit any further quests in this chain. ***

 

{This can’t be!} Quincy cried in my mind when the terms of the quest made it clear he would likely be caught up in this. {Why would the goddess do this?}

You should not have interfered, sprite. Do not attempt to influence one of my champion’s chosen again.

A couple of simple sentences of rebuke but spoken in dozens of different voices. Some were angry and harsh, others amused, kindly, or sympathetic. As many different tones to match the voices that spoke. To think, I’d heard the words of the Shattered Goddess in person. The brief contact had left me a little woozy, just as well I’d already been sitting on my ass.

I didn’t want to know what it would be like to have a proper conversation with her.

I felt her presence fade away and was left with a whimpering sprite and a room full of people with concerned frowns on their faces.

“It’s all good,” I assured them and followed up with a half-hearted joke to lighten the mood. “I’ve got a better idea of what it's like for the captain when the forces beyond our comprehension come knocking. Give me a moment and I’ll fill you all in.”

Nobody had noticed yet that the waypoint had closed, but they would soon. I didn’t have long to make that final decision before having to deal with that information becoming known.

“What can you tell me about this class, Quincy? I’ve not come across any heralds in the class options before.”

{That is not surprising} he replied in a much-subdued tone of voice. Chastened I would have called it. {The herald class tree can only be offered by deities or the representatives of deities. It’s more customisable than most class trees. But only from the giver’s perspective, not the recipient. The best way to describe it is that the herald element is a bolt-on to your pre-existing class which is Pyromancer. You will keep and continue to enhance the early tier abilities you were granted from Pyromancer instead of them being frozen and will get new tier three and four abilities linked to being a herald as extras. You will not be starting over again as usually happens when you switch class trees.}

“Would this cost me any of my current upgrade points?”

{No, the cost is paid by the Shattered Goddess.}

A powerful upgrade then. The only downside was that I could not leave the network until the quest was complete if I took the optional pre-reward. Even if we stumbled across another waypoint.

I had to cool my heels just a touch. The urge to simply accept was strong.

For all my attempted nonchalance a couple of days ago, part of what Britney said that morning before my meeting with Torin had stung. The freckled redhead hadn’t intended to hurt me or open an old wound. But she couldn’t have known. I’d never shared my fears and troubling thoughts the way people are supposed to with their loved ones.

For me, my greatest concern had always been falling behind and becoming irrelevant. Just another forgettable henchman in the crowd. It was a fate I’d been reconciling to face despite my best efforts.

My character aptitude had only been moderate during integration. Average. Nothing special. Nowhere close to the same league as Torin, his harem, or any of the other members of the core council.

In these early months, I’d barely been able to keep up with them, and that was only because Torin included me on some of the first dungeon runs. After the conquest of Grand Rapids, the levels gained by the council members meant I’d been surpassed in strength by all of them. My early gains wiped out. The gap between us would only grow and eventually become insurmountable. Which would inevitably lead to the day would come when it became abundantly clear I was too weak for the position in the crew I held. Torin would have no choice but to demote me for my own good as much as his.

I’d be lucky to keep a squad commander role.

However, this opportunity would change the game. Push me back up to their level without having to expend everything I had to just to stay in sight. I’d become stronger while keeping the unspent points I’d earned. That meant I could keep pushing onwards and upwards in the future. Not simply trying to hang onto their tails and failing.

“What would your advice be, Quincy?”

A slight groan from the sprite slipped through our connection before he gave me an answer he didn't want to.

{There is not much of a downside to accepting unless you planned to radically alter the progression path you were on. I don’t suppose that is the case by any chance?}

“No.”

{I suspected as much. By becoming a herald, you become committed to the herald’s class tree. You can’t switch to another later. Otherwise, it is a significant boost in strength, and...} Quincy paused to catch his breath before he reluctantly continued {...comes with the services of a sprite.}

The last part certainly hurt him to admit, and I couldn’t help but smile at the discomfort. I didn’t usually take any joy from the suffering of others, but Quincy had been quite rude and it's not like he was in any real pain or misery. Only that which he inflicted on himself.

Torin was similarly class-tree locked and it hadn’t held him back any. That was sufficient analysis for me.

“I accept the optional pre-reward.”

My head spun for a moment, and I swayed on the stool like a drunk before the short burst of vertigo passed and my body steadied itself.

“Status,” I muttered and parsed through the sections for my new tier abilities.

 

T3: The Herald’s Burden 1: Your mana pool is increased by ten for every person dedicated to the Shattered Goddess within two hundred metres when this ability is activated. This ability can be activated once per day and resets whenever you fall asleep.

You will also lose one hundred Hit Points if any of those contributors die before your mana pool return to normal.

T4: The Ever-Shifting Flame 1: The White Flame, purification with fire. In addition to your typical green sorcerous flames which inflict fire damage, you can instead cast the purifying white flame. Those enveloped in the white flames will recover a partially random amount of Hit Points of Health. (The more mana that is used to create the flame, the higher the base recovery for those affected). The white flame also has a chance to cure disease or remove negative status effects. Improvements to the white flame’s efficacy and access to other flame types can be gained as the ability improves.

 

My jaw dropped in complete shock. These were absurdly good abilities. So much more than I’d hoped for. Okay, the downside of the burden had me a little concerned. If too many of the contributors were to be suddenly snuffed out in my vicinity, then they would likely take me with them. But it’s not like I wanted to let our people die anyway.

Everything else about the tier three ability was top drawer and the burden was even mitigated a bit by the healing white flame I could now cast. Nothing about the ability precluded me from using it on myself should people start dropping around me. On top of that, I possessed a great way to massively increase my mana pool to fuel that life-saving emergency treatment.

Arguably, the mana pool increase was the biggest benefit of becoming a herald. As a sorcerer, I could eat through my mana at a frightening rate if I wasn't careful and forever had to manage my usage as a result. Mana exhaustion was no joke and I’d experienced it more often than I cared to admit.

My current Mana Capacity was ninety which gave me a pool of 900. Without delay, I activated the ability and watched my mana pool jump from 900 to 1,500. All sixty people in the exploration group were official members of the Shattered Storm which appeared to be enough to count them as dedicated to the Shattered Goddess.

Me included.

It was good to know I could get a little extra mana even if I were split from the rest of the group.

{Hmmm, not bad.} Quincy commented. He must have been viewing my status over my shoulder, so to speak. {You’ll probably need the white flames if you are going after a Rat King. Unless you want to become a scag that is or have your people turn. I should tell you that would count as a fatality and strip some of your Hit Points.}

I’d noticed the term scag in the quest description but was unfamiliar with it. Now would be a good time to press the sprite for information. Something told me his earlier prickliness would likely return sooner rather than later. Better to get what I could while he was still smarting from the Shattered Goddess’ telling off.

“What is a Scag? And how would my white flame help against them?”

{All vermin under the auspice of a rat king are imbued with a special variant of Rat Bite Fever. It’s a parasitical infection usually transmitted through their bite. Left unchecked, it ravages a character, physically altering them. It’s nothing which can't be cured or reversed, unless it reaches the brain. Then the victim is lost. Their species will be automatically changed to scag and they become slaves to the rat king’s will. Over time, their bodies transform further and take on more rodent characteristics.

{Despite their new status, they are still characters which means they can open waypoints and return to the surface. Usually, to bring back helpless victims to increase their numbers. Another reason people usually stay out of Pandaemonium. It shouldn’t be a problem unless somebody else has been stupid enough to wander around down here.}

That could be a problem.

My weighted silence alerted Quincy to my concerns.

{Nobody else has been down here, have they?}

“Ahem!” I cleared my throat. “The Hooved Horde might have forced an unknown number of human prisoners into Pandaemonium to scout the tunnels before we took the portal from them.”

{Unbelievable} Quincy sighed heavily. {And let me guess, you closed the waypoint and moved it without making sure they were all dead first.}

“Captain Carter was under some severe time constraints that necessitated a hasty withdrawal with the portal. We were also under the impression they were all dead and had no reason to believe anything could transform them like that. Anyway, just because there were some prisoners abandoned down here, it doesn’t mean they encountered the rat king’s forces.”

{Oh, really. Happy days! We’ve nothing to worry about then. The quest must be a complete coincidence.}

“Sarcasm isn’t helpful,” I muttered, but Quincy wasn’t wrong.

Coincidences where the Shattered Goddess was concerned were rare indeed.

 

AN 2: The more I think about things, the more I am unlikely to release this as a separate story. if I only had ebooks to worry about I probably would, but shorts don't do well on audio. Instead this will likely become the beginning of book 4 (Although it will retain its separate title and chapter numbering before continuing wit the main series.)

Speaking of the main series, we are in the endgame phase. Books 4 & 5 will end the series. Let me know in the comments what loose threads you would like to see tied up before we get to the conclusion. From experience, I've learned that readers have interest in parts of the narrative that may not have been important to me, but I would always like to work in closure if its possible.