Ends of Magic

The Heirs piled out of the fortress in a hurry. An ‘all-adventurer’ call was serious. That wasn’t the sort of alert you put out if you spotted some dangerous beasts lurking around town. It was much closer to ‘we are about to be attacked.’

And the Heirs weren’t too far away from Tarren. They could probably get there by evening if they ran the whole way. And with everybody over level 81 now, they damn well better be able to keep up that pace.

Even if I almost expect the place to be a smoldering ruin by the time we get there. Old Gemore war-constructs sound like a bad deal. Though it might even be a Giantsrest trap! But that seems unlikely - an all-adventurer call is going to bring in a lot more than just us. But it’s worth bringing up as a possibility.

Nathan gave voice to his concerns as he sprinted across the slope. “Think this is another Giantsrest trap?”

Khachi was sprinting beside him, his body limned in a faint golden glow that seemed to help the wolfman keep up, even if it didn’t quiet the clanking of his plate armor. He replied. “Mayhaps. But we will not ignore such a call. The only course of action is for us to stay on guard against such a thing. Much of this responsibility falls to you, Nathan.”

I suppose that’s true. I’m the one with several perception skills. Sarah’s also got a few, but my antimagic lets me see through magical stealth, which usually beats out perception skills. And against Giantsrest that’s a rather significant advantage.

Nathan resolved to keep an eye out as the Heirs sprinted across the barren landscape. The sun beat down from high above, and sweat started rolling down Nathan’s body and soaking his clothes. Luckily, Stella had a near-infinity supply of waterskins in her pockets. Nathan thought about asking Aarl to uncoil the dimensional portal to the pool that the Ashblood Serpants had been spawning in, but thought better of it.

It’s probably hella nasty in there - and we don’t have time to mess around with getting it in the right orientation to work. Maybe we should have tried to figure it out in our last few days of downtime, but it’s probably better left to the enchanters of Gemore.

After a few hours, everybody but Nathan was starting to flag a little bit. The ground was rough and they’d been running for hours. Most of the gear was packed away in dimensional bags, but they still had to carry the bag itself, and Nathan was impressed by the divine magic that allowed Khachi to keep up the punishing pace in his armor.

But this - exactly this - is what they trained for. They were running to relieve a village from a threat. A scary threat to be sure. After Stella had confirmed they were headed in that direction she’d started receiving updates from the guild on the situation. A team had been resting in Tarren, and another had been clearing a minor dungeon nearby when they’d spotted the wave of combat constructs.

This isn’t our fault, is it? There’s the possibility of that [Message] from the giant crystal I broke doing something. But that’s an Edrani Empire thing, these are Old Gemore? They shouldn’t talk to each other. More likely this is something separate, either from the Delve day or something else.

A little later Stella reported that the two teams had driven off an attack, though they had taken some casualties. The war constructs were reported as fully functionaland showing signs of being newly-made. That last update was bad - it meant that an Old Gemore fortress foundry was online and building more of the enchanted magical robots. That turned the mission from a simple ‘defend’ into a ‘search and destroy’. They needed to find the forge and blow it up.

More teams were being called in and the elites were being put on standby. The Heirs would arrive next and help relieve the teams already at Tarren there. Then they’d go on the offensive, trying to scout out the foundry. Then they’d either destroy it themselves or call in the elites to clean up.

And they’re not sending in the Guardians because this could be a distraction by Giantsrest, or an assassination attempt. The Guardians come in and get jumped by a couple of Archmages. These are the kinds of games the greater powers play. And if the elites took care of everything then there wouldn’t be a next generation to replace them.

All of this made Nathan appreciate the value of [Message] more and more. If Stella couldn’t cast [Message], then they would have no idea that there was a problem. As it was, they were fully looped in on the plan, and the defenders knew their ETA.

Which was soon. The Heirs were about to summit a hill that would probably give them a view of Tarren when he caught the glint of sunlight off of metal peeking over a series of boulders to their right.

Metal like that of a construct. A very shiny construct that’s sticking a tiny portion of itself up to watch us.

High-tier Notice 3 achieved!

He called out a warning. “Behind those rocks!”

The Heirs pivoted smoothly, Nathan running out ahead as two dozen four-legged metallic bodies swarmed over the rocks. They definitely shared design principles with the sentry-constructs that Nathan had fought at the Last Dungeon of Old Gemore. But these were smaller, lower to the ground and moved more quickly.

Scouts?

Their bodies were fairly small — about the size of a big dog. Most of the central body was a forward-facing armored cannon. The four legs holding them up were canted like a spider’s legs, but thick and sturdy. Each leg ended in a broad footpad that appeared to be able to hold onto nearly any surface. They also had a long tail - a jointed metal limb that was capped with two bladed spikes that looked like they could scythe or pincer.

They do share some similarities with those constructs inside the Edrani empire outpost. But these are more mobile, and have one ranged weapon instead of a half dozen.

Those cannons spoke as one, sending a wave of fireballs towards the Heirs. Nathan was out in front, running towards the line of combat constructs. A full third of the fireballs exploded around him, but his Rage was active and he plowed through the fire without so much as a hint of pushback. Nathan felt energized as stamina filled and then overfilled from the deluge of offensive magic.

The Heirs will be fine, especially without me fouling any magical defenses they set up.

The first construct had continued its advance, and whipped its body around to send the metal tail cracking toward Nathan like a whip. He leapt over the strike in a flip, twisting in midair to land atop the machine. He braced himself and wrenched apart the ball joint that connected the construct's leg to its body.

A flash of motion was all the warning Nathan had to duck another set of blades headed towards his neck. The construct he was standing on collapsed, and another pair of bladed spikes stabbed towards his chest. Nathan juked them despite the uncertain footing, grabbing the segmented metal tail that they were attached to.

High-tier Dodging Footwork 2 achieved!

Then he pulled, yanking himself forward and unbalancing the war-construct that had tried to stab him. He rolled past it, grabbing one of its legs on the way by. He put the full momentum of his body into his pull on the leg, yanking the machine off its feet and hurling it forward to slam into another one. They scrabbled over the rocky ground, trying to regain their balance.

Hah! Not so heavy, and a lot of fun to throw around.

Then the shooting started. Sarah’s pistols started cracking in rapid succession, punctuated by the suppressed sound of Aarl’s shotgun. There was the crackle of lightning, and a few of the constructs surrounding Nathan jerked with electrical discharge. But he was still surrounded, and had to fully exert his movement skills to avoid the barrage of attacks coming his way. Either they'd figured out he was immune to magic or he was too close, because they attacked him exclusively with the blades on their tails.

The blades were only a foot long, but they could whip them around with enough force to shatter the stones that Nathan stood on. He jumped and rolled over attacks, flipping high into the air in a stamina-assisted leap only to smash down atop another construct, a knee shattering its cannon in an antimagic-assisted strike.

Mid-tier Tumbling 9 achieved!

Nathan blocked the next stab, guiding the vicious blades to the side before wrapping both hands around the metal tail. He pulled, this time planting his feet to leverage his Rage and Stamina-assisted strength to pull the construct off its feet. Then he ran a few steps, dragging the writhing metal payload for a short way before throwing all of his inertia into his makeshift flail, pivoting and hurling it at another construct that was bracing to fire its cannon at the Heirs. He watched the two go down in a flailing pile of limbs and smirked.

Yeah, that’s satisfying.

He paid for his inattention a moment later, as a blow hit Nathan from the left side. It was a whipcrack of sharpened metal that tore through his chest and sent him tumbling. He rolled as blood sprayed, coming to his feet quickly and looking towards the robot-like creature. Then Aarl’s new greatsword cleaved through its body lengthwise and it dropped without a sound. Nathan spun instantly, looking for the next threat.

Eight of the war-constructs remained, and they grouped up for another assault. It was a bad idea - Stella launched a huge fireball that used air mana to encourage a larger explosion, outright destroying two of them and knocking the others over. Nathan, Aarl and Khachi moved in for the kill, quickly dismantling the constructs as they struggled to their feet. One of them turned and booked it, vaulting over the boulders the ambush had emerged from.

Nathan was about to sprint after it when Sarah’s rifle bullet slammed into its center and out the other side, dropping the construct as its enchantments failed with a jerky stagger.

Looking around the battlefield, Nathan saw that it was littered with metal bodies. None appeared to be moving, beyond some spasmodic jerking. Khachi walked over to that construct and brought his hammer down, smashing the metal into a flat pancake against the ground.

You have leveled up to level 91! You have handily defeated an ambush from Old Gemore scout-constructs!

Nathan nodded at the box, satisfied as he walked up to Khachi. “All good? New hammer seems to be effective.”

Khachi hefted the weapon in question, his canines bared in a wolfish grin. “It is. Very effective against this enemy.” He turned to look over the rest of the Heirs. “Any wounds?”

Sarah lowered her rifle, running her eyes over the neighboring hills before stowing the weapon. “No. Except if you count Nathan. Who’s got clothes for him?”

Nathan looked down. He’d only taken the one wound, and was just expecting to see a tear in his shirt and the resulting bloodstain. And the bloodstain was there - on bare and healed skin. He was completely naked.

How did that happen? Oh - right. The fireballs at the beginning. The explosions didn’t even bat me around, but the same can’t be said for my clothes. Welp.

Nathan accepted another set of clothes from Aarl, pulling them on quickly before they got moving once more.

Aarl shot a look back toward the battlefield. “I regret leaving such a weight of good metal behind. Even the supply of enchanted blades and mana crystals would be worth good coin.”

Khachi opened his mouth, looking stern. Aarl interrupted him before the armored warrior could get started. “We need to relieve Tarren. I know, I know.”

As they spoke, Stella shot a look his way. “I need something that can punch through metal better. If something is protected from lightning and behind armor, there isn’t much I can do to it. Light can’t melt through metal quickly, and fireballs can only stagger a bigger construct. Is it time to teach me of plasma yet?”

I could probably teach her. But she still doesn’t have a good handle on magnetic mana, which I think is important for that. But she'll need to get rough control before she has the fine control for a railgun.

“If you’re worried about armor in particular, you could try using magnetic spells more. You could probably throw the constructs around really effectively with those spells. Or crush them. Magnetism should directly affect steel, you just need to create a really strong magnetic field around your targets. And be careful around Khachi. Wouldn’t want to send him flying through the air accidentally.”

Khachi gave Nathan a betrayed look as they crested the hill, but whatever he was about to say was interrupted by the sight of the town atop the hill opposite.

Tarren had been built atop a mesa, with the only entrance a winding path that crossed an arch of red rock to reach the front gates. It was a beautiful town, built from the red-and-white sandstone that reminded Nathan of the Grand Canyon. All of the other sides of the mesa were sheer drops of craggy stone, each capped with a supplemental wall of worked rock that made the approaches seemingly impossible.

They watched as a huge fireball arced towards the gatehouse, detonating against the sturdy building and sending chunks of stone flying through the air. One of the towers leaned drunkenly back, looking on the edge of collapsing. The sound of the explosion took a few seconds to reach them, indicating how far away they were.

Nathan tracked the path of the fireball back down to the base of the mesa, where light reflected off serried ranks of shining metal. There were maybe a hundred constructs arranged in a loose formation. In the center of the array of metal was a large triangular shape the size of a small building that seemed to have fired the artillery spell.

“Bet I can hit it from here.” Sarah spoke, her hands already going to her bag.

Khachi caught Nathan’s eye with a questioning look. Nathan shrugged, and replied. “If you think you can do serious damage, then that’s not a bad idea. It’s better than trying to attack. Should we try to sneak around and group up with the Adventurers in Tarren?”

Sarah squinted down her rifle, panning it around the town. “Nope. Scout constructs are scattered around. It’s a siege.”

Stella yawned, arching her back theatrically before clapping her palms together. “Time to break the besiegers.”

Nathan rolled his eyes at the drama. “Let’s at least get into a defensible position. So if all of that tries to swarm us we won’t just go down under the weight of metal.”

He pointed out a position that crowned a hill a short distance away. It was a series of rocky pillars and outcroppings that broke up sight lines and provided a lot of cover. It would give the Heirs the ability to hide, take cover or retreat down the opposite slope if they needed to.

It was only a matter of a few minutes to run over, where Stella started carving some rock out of an outcrop to give them a more fortified position.

Sarah was keeping watch over the valley below as she hunkered over her rifle. After a few minutes she pulled out an enchanted round and chambered it. “It’s charging up for another attack. I’ll take the shot when the shell opens up. No sounds for a moment, please.”

They all shut up, watching with bated breath as Sarah relaxed her body, seeming to focus her entire attention down the length of her masterwork rifle and on the far-away enemies. In the distance the triangular construct opened up, fire blooming inside the metal shell. Sarah’s rifle spoke with a suppressed pop.

Nothing happened. Aarl sighed, and spoke reassuringly, “It’s ok, you…” he was cut off as the construct below exploded. It took a few seconds for the sounds of the distant explosion to reach them, but it was a sustained roar as metal fragments were thrown high into the sky.

Sarah looked up at her brother. “You were saying?”

Nathan held up a hand, watching the ranks of metal constructs swarm as if somebody had just kicked an anthill. “They’re headed this direction. Should we run? I don’t think we can fight all of that at the same time.”

Sarah checked the angles on the army a few miles away. “They’re headed for the site where we fought the scout constructs. Not moving too fast. We’ve got time.

The Heirs retreated into the hollow which Stella had carved from the stone, while Nathan stayed out, ducking down so only his head was sticking up over a rock. The rationale for him being the scout was that he was immune to magic - so if any constructs looking for them were using line-of-sight magical sensors, they wouldn’t ping off him.

Though if they’re using something that goes around corners they’ll find the Heirs anyway, and I’m not exactly invisible either. I kind of wish I’d gotten a stealth skill.

Nathan considered what they’d learned. “So they know about us fighting the scout constructs. That means they’ve got some kind of communication ability.”

Nathan watched as the army of constructs divided into nine separate units as they approached, moving cautiously over the terrain. It looked almost like they were searching in a grid pattern, to ensure they didn’t leave a threat behind them.

Nathan explained what he was seeing over his shoulder, then elaborated on their plans. “Well, we’ve bought some more time for Tarren. Should we try to fight, or run? There’s a lot of them out there, and we won’t be able to fight one group without all of them descending on us.”

Stella shrugged. “I could probably dig this hollow deeper, then conjure up a wall of stone so they don’t find us here. Then after dark we could go into town.”

Khachi frowned. “I wish to be able to assist Tarren if the constructs launch an assault. I worry that by hiding we strike ourselves blind. Can we start tunneling towards Tarren?”

Stella wordlessly shook her head, snorting to indicate how ridiculous Khachi’s question was.

Nathan spoke up. “I also don’t want to rely on them being blinded after nightfall. If they’re using magical sensors, they might see better than we do in the dark."

Aarl’s voice was thoughtful, though clenched hands near his weapon pouches betrayed his tension.“We know where they are, where they’re going, and what their likely next moves are going to be. Is there a way we can use that to defeat them?”

Everybody looked at Nathan.

He blinked. “What? Just because I said if you had perfect information you should be able to win doesn’t mean that I always know exactly how to win.”

Then he paused. “Wait a second. I just had an idea.”

Status of Nathan Lark:

Permanent Talent 1: Magic Absorption 9

Permanent Talent 2: Perfected Body 3

Talent 3: High-tier Slow Fall 7

Class: Implacable Antimage level 91

Stamina: 2744/3030

Antimage’s Impassivity

Antimagic Momentum

Raging Thrill

Implacable Inertia

Unarmored Resilience

Improved Antimagic

Strenuous Agility

Hand-to-hand Expertise

Utility skills:

Battle Meditation 3

High-tier Earnestness 8

Mid-tier Sprinting 10

High-tier Spellsense 8

High-tier Notice 3

High-tier Identify 2

High-tier Dodging Footwork 2

High-tier Enhanced Memory 7

Mid-tier Lecturing 7

Mid-tier Tumbling 9