"[COMMANDER!!!]"

 

 

 

 

 

 

High Commander Brooks of the city guard steeled himself. He had been walking along to a meeting with four of his aides when he heard Seeker Elyin yell out his title. He knew this wasn't likely to go well, but he needed to deal with it all the same. He took a deep breath, put on a fake look of concern, then turned around to greet the woman rapidly approaching him from down the long, scenic hallway lined with historic tapestries he himself had just walked down, "[Seeker Elyin. I heard you had returned. Shouldn't you be enjoying your medical leave?]"

 

Elyin had found time to change her outfit. She was wearing a form-fitting suit of green armor made out of a living plant. It gave maximum coverage with minimal restriction. On her shoulder was her rank and occupation. She was the equivalent of a SpecOp Agent, given the specific task of dealing with infernalists, and an officer's rank to boot. Her expression was as serious as a heart attack as she jogged up to Brooks, "[Commander, what is going on with MY prisoner?]"

 

Brooks stifled his immediate reaction as he reminded himself what this woman had been through. He paused to cough into his fist before he spoke, "[SEEKER Elyin...]" Brooks made sure to emphasize he wasn't addressing her by her rank, "[I thank you for not only returning to us and rescuing four children in the process, but also bringing us an infernalist.]" He took a deep breath before he continued, "[However, you were missing for four years and presumed dead. Technically, you have not been reinstated so he is NOT your prisoner.]"

 

Elyin paused to bite back her more impulsive response and forced herself to speak in a calm and level manner, "[I am aware of that, but that doesn't matter.]" She pointed into the distance, "[That man is unique. He doesn't have any cheats. He doesn't have a QUEST window! He is an infernalist who isn't controlled by the gamemasters, YET has extensive knowledge of the game ITSELF!]

 

Brooks nodded slowly, "[Yes. As I read in your report. I look forward to his interrogation.]"

 

She clenched her fists and gritted her teeth as she trembled with barely suppressed rage, "[I asked around, you have thrown him in prison and are going to kill his familiar???]" She forced herself to relax, "[Are you TRYING to make him an enemy? If we make friends with him, we'll get far more useful information than if we enrage him! Furthermore, the familiar might be a devil, but she's Chaotic Good! Why would you kill it?]"

 

"[Yes yes yes, so you claim. Or... maybe it's just an elaborate ruse. Either way, she's still a devil. It's the practical solution. After we kill his familiar, he'll know we mean business.]"

 

Elyin paused to think, then changed tactics, "[Are you trying to kill HIM? That familiar has far more hit points than he does! If you kill her, the backlash will end his life as well!]"

 

Brooks frowned, "[But that's not possible. That's not how-]"

 

"[How familiars work?]" Elyin cut Brooks off, "[Yes, normally you would be right, but you are talking about an infernalist who knows ALL THE RULES.]" Elyin started to stab her finger into the palm of her opposing hand, "[She told me he's fifth level and she's nineteenth! He'll take half her hit points as damage when she dies. He won't survive!]"

 

Brooks paused and looked thoughtful. He covered his mouth with his hand as he stared off into the distance and contemplated this new information, "[You... have a point.]" He turned to her as he dropped his hand, pulling himself up to his full height to look down at her, "[That said. You are too close to this situation to be objective. You need time off to recover. This is not YOUR prisoner. We'll handle-]"

 

Elyin grabbed Brooks by the collar with both hands, "[Don't you even THINK of taking this from me!]" She shook him as she spoke, "[Do you know what HELL I have been through? Then to have this stroke of LUCK dropped in my lap? The first REAL, TRUE, BREAK I have had in the decades! I have been trying to find a way to fight back against these abominations, we get a glimmer of hope, and you think you can handle this better than I can? NOBODY knows these monsters better than me! Nobody HATES them more than me!]"

 

Brooks remained impassive as he listened to her talk. He slowly raised a finger to gently touch the hands at his throat, "[And yet you sound like you are trying to protect him. Do you understand how strange that is? How we suspect you have been compromised?]"

 

Elyin was about to respond when an alarm went off. Elyin let go as she looked around, "[Wait... is that...?]"

 

Brooks was puzzled as well, looking to and fro as he tried to figure out what was going on. It had been so long since there was a need for an alarm that Brooks had forgotten what one sounded like, "[What is that alarm for?]" He turned to one of his aides, "[That sounds like it comes from the holding tower. Find out what-]"

 

Brooks was cut off in mid sentence when he heard a distant voice shouting, "What Time Is It?" Just as the windows all along the hall burst inwards.

 

The windows faced a courtyard that had just filled up with a few hundred metric tons of water and all that liquid had to go somewhere, after all.

 

Just as the tide of materialized fluid began to ebb, a towering, multi-armed humanoid made out of a transparent jello-like substance dropped down into the water causing quite the splash. In the middle of this construct, as if the entire creature was a living suit of armor, was Andrew. On top was Miriam kneeling in a sort of contour seat so she could freely wave her arms.

 

Elyin, soaking wet, started to pull herself to her feet just in time to see two fifteen-foot-long tree trunks with giant boulders attached to the ends appear in Miriam's hands. She swung them around effortlessly as if they were but twigs, making it clear that getting close to this monstrosity might be a BAD IDEA.

 

Andrew, standing knee-deep in the subsiding flood, took a moment to pose and shout for anyone still present with their wits about them.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

"IT'S MORBIN' TIME!"

 

---

 

Brooks was a mage's mage.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Brooks was taught how to be a mage by his father, who was taught by his father, who was taught by HIS father. For over a thousand years the elves of his bloodline had been mages and mages they would be. As a mage's mage, Brooks did things a certain way. You reacted to certain problems with certain solutions.

 

Brooks's preferred solution to this sort of problem was a hundred-and-twenty-foot-long, five-foot-wide lightning bolt.

 

The thing was, while Brooks was a well-trained mage, his experience was under controlled conditions. His father trained him in a way that held very little risk. Smooth seas rarely make for a skilled sailor and regardless of Brooks' double-digit level, he didn't have much real-world experience.

For example, he didn't know why you should never cast a lightning bolt across the surface of a body of water you and five companions happen to be standing in. You see, under those circumstances, the lightning bolt spreads out an additional twenty feet in all directions, including backward. Elyin DID have real-world experience, so when Brooks went first and began to chant...

 

Elyin knew exactly how screwed they were.

 

Andrew noticed the wizard gesturing, and Andrew was faster. Alas, he had already exhausted most of his actions countering spell traps he triggered on the way down. In his head he ran the calculations. He was going to come up just short of being able to do anything to disrupt the spell...

But Miriam could.

Andrew broke into a sacrificial sprint, a maneuver that allowed you to move an extra thirty feet at the cost of dropping your dodge to zero. He got within ten feet of Brooks and shouted, "Miriam! Disrupt his spell!"

 

"What?"

 

Andrew pointed at the wizard, "MAULS! Now!"

 

Miriam swung her new weapons but both went wide. Her confusion at the command combined with her unfamiliarity with the weapons rendered her attacks, no matter how large and impressive they may have been, completely ineffective.

 

As Brooks finished his spell, Elyin's instincts paid off as she managed to leap into the air and out of the water just as crackling electrons flew from the wizard's fingertips. It harmlessly fizzled against Andrew's minor globe of invulnerability, one of the many spells Andrew had as part of his suite of defenses. Alas, that didn't stop it from frying all five of the remaining elves in the water, including the caster.

 

While the caster was high enough level to survive electrocuting himself, his four aides were not. As Elyin landed with a splash, she moved to check on the nearest aide. She knew from experience, it was too late. They were already dead. However, maybe, just maybe, if she got lucky, she might be able to save one of -

 

"{Anticipation/Stabilize}"

 

Andrew borrowed his next action from the future to interrupt the death of the four aides with a stabilize spell thus leaving them on the brink of death, yet alive. As he did this, he mentally commanded his living armor to take over and beat Brooks with subdual damage. Andrew briefly lost track of time as he succumbed to a minor time slip.

 

The now familiar sensation of sensory deprivation washed over him. When he returned to his senses, he was holding an unconscious elven mage by the neck while Elyin crouched in the water, looking up at him with her mouth hanging open. Apparently, she had somehow deduced that if she took no offensive action, the ectoplasmic puppet wouldn't attack her, thus she was unharmed.

 

Or maybe she had been grateful for his previous act of mercy and chose not to fight him.

 

Andrew shook his head to clear it, "Damn that backlash!" He rolled his eyes upward, "What the heck, Miriam? What was with that full attack? Why didn't you just take the melee touch attack and disrupt the spell?"

 

"I'm SORRY!" Miriam's reply had an edge to it that sounded off, "I didn't know what you wanted! I'm sorry I'm screwing everything up!" Miriam made the mauls vanish as she grabbed the sides of her head, "I don't know what I'm doing! I don't know how anything works anymore! Nothing makes any sense!" The shrill tone of her words made it sound like she was at some sort of mental breaking point.

 

Andrew paused as he tried to understand what was going on. He figured it had to be his fault SOMEHOW. Some hidden mechanic he didn't understand. He realized it was unlikely he could depend on her any further. He changed tactics and spoke softly trying to defuse the situation, "NO. ... No. It's my fault. I'm putting too much pressure on you. I'm sorry for assuming you can just read my mind. I thought that would have kicked in at your level already." He closed his eyes, "I'm expecting too much. Just relax. I'll-"

 

Elyin stood up.

 

As she did, the ecto-puppet interrupted Andrew by moving on its own accord to close in on her. Andrew took the puppet off autopilot before it could attack. Both Andrew and Elyin froze as they came face to face. Andrew spoke first, "I could have killed everyone. It would have been easier, but I didn't because I only kill monsters." He dropped the elven mage still in his grasp. The body made a splash in the still-flooded, yet draining hallway as he asked her a rather important question.

 

"You gonna be a problem?"

 

Elyin turned to the nearest crispy elf who was somehow breathing, then back to Andrew. She silently shook her head.

 

Andrew nodded, "Then you count as defeated. I was already over what I needed for my next level, so..." He rolled his eyes upwards, "Miriam,  I need you to repeat after me exactly. Ready?"

 

Miriam was on the verge of tears but managed to hold it together enough to respond, "Uhhh...  Repeat? Okay..."

 

"I am your patron."

 

Miriam looked confused, but repeated the phrase all the same, "I am your patron?" It sounded more like a question than a statement, but she spoke it all the same.

 

Elyin looked confused by this exchange, then her eyes widened, "Why would you..." Her mind reviewed what she knew about classes and what classes Andrew might be taking. She felt a cold chill, "You're becoming a warlock?"

 

Andrew snorted as he looked contemptuously at the drenched elven maid, "Warlock? Please..." He made a dismissive pft-sound as he flexed all six arms, the four from the symbiote, and two of his own sticking out between the other two sets, "Why would I take such a weak-ass class?" From between the knuckles of every fist leaped forth three, foot-long claws made of a strange, purplish energy.

 

 

 

 

 

He spread out his arms, the end of each crackling with eldritch power as he offered two words as explanation.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

"Clawlock!" 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

"Bitch."