Icarus Awakens

Lograve finished his illustrations and closed the notebook, stashing it safely in his robes. He then focused, remembering everything that had to be done in the coming days. Murdon had communicated the troubles of Hagain Village silently to Lograve during the walk to camp. Confirmation of a Tyrant and the destruction of the manor were disastrous, to say nothing of the lives lost and loyalties suborned. Likewise, Lograve had covered the Origin Beast and its implications.

His friend hadn’t been concerned. Murdon had argued that if that monster god attacked them now, there was simply nothing either he nor anyone else could do. They couldn’t warn anyone, so their objective of escaping the Thormundz remained top priority. That was… A sound, reasonable analysis of the situation. Trust Murdon to handle this logically, but give him one weird level one to manage? His thoughts turned sarcastic. No, we have to go full inquisition for him.

A part of Lograve, his analytical self, wondered what would have happened if Murdon had killed Daniel in Hagain Village. Without Rorshawd’s soul to absorb, would the Origin Beast have risen? What would the absence of Identify Creature have meant over the past few weeks? Nothing important would have changed, but, but no. Lograve couldn’t think like that, trading lives for outcomes.

Though I did let someone die on the bridge, he coldly reminded himself. Jonus had told Lograve he would be making the point that there would be no desertion as they were preparing the trap, but execution? If Lograve did not know for a fact Jonus was dead, he would make a good candidate for the mystery Tyrant. The Martialist might have even been one, only to have been overwhelmed by a superior enemy. That could explain why he hadn’t stopped the arrow, but at the same time, Lograve couldn’t give himself that excuse.

As for who the current Tyrant was, there was a limited number of theories. Quala’s suggestion of viewing the Tyrant’s influence as an infection would fit with the idea that Heldren Storm’s team served as a carrier, taking it from the main village to Roost’s Peak where the populace was slowly turned against Murdon and everyone that stood for him. Lograve’s team was spared either because they had been too busy or too loyal to be affected. Did my bond protect me? We still haven’t figured out the third benefit.

While the infection might have started in Roost’s Peak, the degree to which Hagain Village had been affected would have to mean it was the source. The intensity of what was happening also suggested a higher level Tyrant. Lograve concurred with Murdon that it was a level three behind everything. Realistically, that meant the headmen and everyone on Heldren’s team, not counting Quala.

Lograve’s intuition went further than Murdon’s here. The rumor theory of how influence was spreading suggested the power was based on charisma. The attribute arrays of all potential candidates weren’t known to the exact number, though that still ruled out a decent number of them. Even though charisma was invaluable to leadership, not everyone could afford to keep it even with their core attributes. Two of the headmen even had advancement penalties to charisma from their class, taking them out of the running.

Of those that were left? It’s Heldren. Obviously. A Hero going bad was hardly new. Most still kept the class, sure, but the conversion to Tyrant was a special case requiring circumstances just like the Thormundz’s relative power vacuum. Heldren’s attributes were somewhere within the mid 20 to low 30 range. As charisma was one of the core Hero attributes, he would certainly have prioritized its advancement. That just left the question of how knowledge of the lightning dragon had spread. Tlara had been watched closely enough that he was sure she hadn’t told anyone. Kob had figured it out through deduction, and far too late to have been responsible. So how?

Murdon stirred. “That’s not enough sleep, close your eyes,” Lograve called over to him. Murdon waved him off and sat up. “Murdon, damn it, I was just talking with Daniel about bonds. Mine is telling me that you need more sleep.”

“Our bond doesn’t have an Empathic Link.” Murdon blinked his eyes as he adjusted to the light.

“I don’t need magic to tell me your sleep debt is numbered in days instead of hours!”

“The Tyrant, Lograve. Any thoughts?”

Lograve frowned. “You know, during our talk, Daniel mentioned kindness and understanding. I think I could benefit from that as well.”

“Who do you think it is?”

“This is exactly why our bond hasn’t improved in years.” Lograve dramatically looked away, pouting. With Telepathy he thought, Heldren.

I saw him fighting the rampaging monsters in Hagain. He was helping people.

And we’ve seen nothing at all to indicate the Tyrant has been using deception?

Point taken. Just him, then?

There are a few others, Lograve conceded. He’s my top suspect.

Murdon stood and looked around the camp. Those awake shifted similarly to Hunter’s earlier aggression, moving slightly away from him regardless of where they were. They were all affected, he thought to Lograve, the link from the Arcanist’s Telepathy still active.

Everyone but my team, yes. For more reasons than one, it’s a shame Yedra died. I have a feeling she was leading the effort against you here. Something about telling me to go into a cave, and then blowing it up while I was inside tipped me off.

Alost, then.

How are we going to do this? I can host a mental conversation if you need to- Murdon, what are you doing?

…

The Commander hadn’t taken off his armor before resting, leading to quite a few sore areas. While relatively minor, it added to everything else in the world separating Murdon from the feeling of comfort that he had been deprived of for so long. Agitation was predictable, impatience understandable. That’s what Murdon told himself.

With a direction in mind, he walked over to where Alost was sleeping and shook him awake. Giving the man only a moment to become conscious, he said at a volume just below a shout, “We need to talk.” Had Daniel been there, he would have remarked on how similar Murdon sounded to Hunter in that moment.

“Commander!?”

“Your people tried to kill Lograve’s team.” Fury that had been denied expression suddenly found the opportunity. The majority of the camp woke at this point. Daniel’s argument with Hunter had brought them to a state of light arousal Murdon fully shattered. “If you hadn’t led them to the mine, that dragon would never have taken those lives!”

Murdon, they don’t know about- Lograve tried to caution him, but he was ignored.

“There is a Tyrant in the Thormundz,” he announced to the camp, voice softening slightly. “Most of you seem to have realized you were under some kind of influence. That does not change what you have done.”

“I, I didn’t-” Alost’s words were cut off as Murdon planted a knee in his chest.

Murdon leaned down to put his face right up to Alost. He wasn’t wearing his helmet and was fully aware of the intimidation factor of his teeth. That was something he’d used to good effect before. He used it again now. “Tell me everything.”

Alost didn’t have all of the answers. He was never formally in charge of anything, only having risen to prominence in Roost’s Peak because of Focus Fire, his hosting of an underground gambling club, and his skill with cooking. The last one had left Murdon incredulous until other members of the garrison vouched for him.

Therein lay the true source of information. No one person knew everything, but what was left of the garrison collectively did. First, it was confirmed that the influence was spreading through rumor. Now that it was removed, people could distinguish the time that they were under the effect, pinpointing when it had started. The method was insidious. Several of the indoctrinated would host a smaller number of others, strike up a conversation, and eventually lead them to the topic of Murdon being a Tyrant. Unfortunately, working his way up the chain of infection ended with Yedra’s name. She was the first affected and the only one who knew who had spread the rumor to Roost’s Peak to begin with.

As far as why the influence broke, there was an easy answer. The Tyrant wasn’t omniscient and could never have predicted the presence of an Origin Beast near Roost’s Peak. The plan was to take over the fort, get rid of any on Lograve’s team that wouldn’t be persuaded to the ‘truth’, and prepare for the arrival of everyone from Hagain Village. The Tyrant’s end goal was isolating everyone in the Thormundz within Roost’s Peak, completely derailing the plan to break out of the valley. With the knowledge of the dragon in the pass spreading with the rumor, it wasn’t a stretch to see why those affected would prefer to shelter in a fortified city rather than risk death following Murdon. Rorshawd’s appearance in and destruction of the fort ruined that plan. Between that, the deaths of their friends, and the dragon speaking, everyone present for the fight was shaken out of the influence that had gripped them.

While rescuing the survivors of Roost’s Peak had given Murdon a small force to act against the Tyrant, the revelation that they planned to shelter in the city was problematic. The Tyrant wasn’t omniscient. With Murdon escaping the assassination attempt there was only one place he could go. Remove the knowledge of the dragon attack, and the Tyrant would naturally fear Murdon breaking the city out of their control and using its defenses against a siege attempt. The Tyrant had to accelerate their plan to stop Murdon from beating them to the punch. They were probably on their way already.

The group interrogation hadn’t been pleasant for any involved. Murdon knew the insidious nature of the influence had warped the perceptions of those afflicted, but that wasn’t a perfect excuse. Influence powers could be resisted, and the universal success of this one in Roost’s Peak meant that the city, at a baseline, had a poor opinion of him. Still, when he’d learned all he could, there was some regret over how he’d handled what amounted to traumatized survivors of a disaster.

With respect to Alost, the archer had been chastised to the point of near breaking and was under the ministration of Quala. She hadn’t interfered with the grilling but continued to give him disapproving looks while going about her work. Even the Cleric was down to the last of her mana and had to rely on slower methods. Using Flash Heal on Gadriel had been decisive, yet costly. To say nothing of the state of Sigron, Murdon’s brother in class now missing an arm. The only reason he’d been on the team with Lograve was that Murdon had pitied the Knight for the curse he bore, only to make the man’s life even worse. With time, the gunk both eating away at the shoulder and keeping the Knight’s blood inside could at least be removed.

He returned to Lograve, saying, “We’ll need to move soon. You were traveling at a more sedate pace compared to us to get here. Any area nearby that has any defensive value?”

“Not since Roost’s Peak went up in smoke. Hmm. You’re thinking we’ll need to repel the Tyrant here? No chance to get back to Hagain before they mobilize?” It wasn’t an accident that Lograve was preternaturally quick on the uptake.

Tactical Intuition was a unique aspect of their bond of friendship that was derived from Lograve’s Telepathy and Murdon’s Tactician features. It made for snap decisions and rapidly-made, yet effective plans. The power was somewhat ambiguous in how it worked, and a visit to the church of Torch had proved useless in finding out more. It wasn’t consciously activated, though either could be conscious of it working. That was the case when Lograve had begun organizing Hagain Village along the lines of a plan Murdon hadn’t even decided on yet during the start of the disaster, or more recently, how they’d quickly decided on their plan of attack against Rorshawd.

“No chance,” Murdon affirmed. “I don’t like our odds in straightforward combat. The people here are hurt, shaken, and disorganized. I have no doubt the Tyrant will be recalling all of the training teams, reaping the rewards of our careful planning.”

“So we don’t fight them. In a way, we have an advantage. Everyone that could be affected by the influence has been. Start breaking it and it could kick off a mass awakening from the momentum.”

“Alternatively, if you’re sure about Heldren…” Murdon let Lograve finish the thought.

“If we’re wrong, we-”

“Pardon my intrusion, but am I to understand you suspect Heldren Storm as the mastermind of this craven plot?” Gadriel was somehow next to them all of a sudden. Murdon hadn’t noticed, and they’d been careless in conversing vocally. The Hero was mostly whole, having dents in his medium armor and severe bruising that his dutiful demeanor did not show.

“Is there some way you can help?” Murdon asked.

“Hmm. Perhaps. Do we intend to face him today?”

“Not if we can help it. Let us say we strongly suspect he is the Tyrant. Do you have a suggestion to neutralize him?”

“Indeed. However, it is not something I can divulge. Not here, lest there are those that would warn him.”

Lograve gave Gadriel a flat look. “This penchant for drama is more suited for a Bard. This isn’t the time for secrets, and everyone here has been broken out of the influence.”

“Even if you were sure, good mage,” Gadriel said with a hint of annoyance kept respectfully tamped down. “One does not need to be influenced to betray. There is every possibility one of these people will defect on fear alone. A Tyrant’s favor can be an alluring prospect, especially in the face of his army.”

Murdon nodded at that. “He has a point.” All three glanced warily at their surroundings and stepped farther away from the camp. “What is the shape of your plan?”

“I cannot-”

“We aren’t looking for details,” Murdon sighed. “What I’m asking is, are you setting up a power? Will you need to act before the fighting breaks out or before?”

“Are you trying to come in stealthy, or wearing a golden suit that says ‘look at me, I’m self-important?’” The Arcanist had kept things serious during their training missions though could now prod the Hero as the weight of authority was off him.

Gadriel maintained his smooth facade in the face of Lograve’s needling. “It will be before battle is joined. Draw them into discourse and I shall make my attempt. It is good there is time, I will need it for advancement tonight.”

“I don’t know if we’ll have time for you to commit advancements six times, Gadriel,” Lograve said cautiously, humor gone. “Not unless you do so through the night, and you’ll need all the mana you can get.”

“Incorrect on both accounts, Sir Lograve.”

“What?”

Gadriel leaned closer to whisper, making the Arcanist wonder why they were still discussing this out loud. Too late to change that. “I may not have the unsporting dual and instant advancement powers Daniel possesses, though that does not mean I am without an edge of my own.”

It took only a few seconds for Lograve to clue in on what the Hero meant. “You have a simultaneous advancement power! That’s how you’ve kept your attributes perfectly even.”

“I finally attained six advancement potential after our struggle with that drake. If it would mean the return of Sir Kob I would give them up, but…” the Hero deflated slightly. “Do try to keep that from common ears. One does well to keep some cards close to the chest.”

Murdon wasn’t entirely convinced. “Without knowing what you’re planning, I can’t promise any kind of support.”

“That is fine. I shall need nothing but my resolve, my shield, and my sword.”

“Hmm,” Murdon grunted, looking at his bare arm. “At least you have a shield.”