Spear of Destiny: Chapter 24

Now that we had confirmation that our parachutes worked the way they needed to, it was time to start the preparations for our mission: prying Bas County out of Zoltan's greedy hands.

Operation Girlpower was far from the first mass combat quest we’d taken on, but The Last of Her House was unique among the quests I’d received since uploading to Archemi. It was completely open-ended, with no framework or parameters other than the timeline.

When Suri, Karalti, Rin and I had come to Myszno to fight Ashur, it was with a Royal Commission, with Ignas’ forces and an active campaign strategy. It wasn't a GOOD strategy, but we’d been able to hit the ground running after arriving at the Prezyemi Line. The recapture of Bas, while not on the same scale, had no pre-existing strategic groundwork. The success - or failure - of the mission was ours and ours alone. And it wasn't just Kitti's safety and the security of the province at risk, either. If we aced this quest, it would push us into the next Renown tier for Myszno, which meant that I would reach new heights of popularity with a province that was still wary of having an outsider as Voivode. With Renown came resources, the kind that was more precious than gold or wheat: increased loyalty from my subjects, of volunteers and allies within Myszno.

Through the evening and over the next day, Suri mercilessly drilled the soldiers Taethawn picked for the airborne part of the mission. Two hundred Meewfolk, all of them hardened combat vets skilled in close-weapon fighting, had a day and a night to learn how to skydive into a combat zone. In the real world, it wouldn't have been possible. Here, under Suri's instruction and with repeated practice, our commandos were able to gain competency ridiculously fast. If we had the time afterward, we planned to roll out airborne training to as many of the Royal 2nd Company personnel as we could. There was no reason an entire crew had to die because their airship went down.

While Suri did that, I found myself neck deep in meetings and the Kingdom Management System, organizing the deployment of our forces. The officers came together with me in my quarters, and we hashed out our operational strategy in record time. The plan was straightforward enough. Inclusive of the Royal Navy, we had one Hussar-class Destroyer and six Bathory-class Skirmishers at our disposal. Between all of them, we could port 1900 troops, more than enough to take on Zoltan’s rabble in Solonovka. We would leave at night, arriving at 4am, when Archemi’s giant moon was on the horizon and cast the least amount of light. The lead ship would be carrying a hundred and twenty-five paratroopers: Taethawn and his men, a single platoon of Nightstalkers rogues, plus me, Suri, and Karalti. Karalti and I would jump outside the castle, using our stealth and darkness abilities to take out key guard positions. Once we were clear, I would alert Suri, who would lead the Nightstalkers and Orphans. Once the Nightstalkers touched down, their job was to breach doors and silently take out sentries deeper within the castle grounds. The Meewfolk were the assault force, charged with battling once our cover was blown and the fight inevitably turned into a melee. When it did, Karalti would assume her dragon form, and threaten to burn Zoltan and his inner circle out of the castle if they wouldn’t budge. There was an important psychological reason why Karalti needed to stay polymorphed until the end – Vlachians worshipped the Nine, the gods of the dragons, and considered dragons to be sacred avatars of said gods. Shock and awe being what they were, the effect of her abrupt appearance would either force a surrender, and-or scare the shit out of Zoltan and his thugs.

There were two backup plans: the one the officers knew about, and the one they didn’t. The one they knew about was where the second ship came in. If required, it would launch the Royal Quazi Dragoons and their mages, who would be able to provide cover for a botched assault. The ships themselves had weapons, and – thanks to Rin – improved magical shields. They would descend to engage.

And the plan they didn’t know about? Let’s just say it involved some dead bodies and my questionably ethical vampiric powers.

By eleven pm, I was still tits-deep in the Kingdom Management System, checking over our ordnance and troop health, when there was a soft knock on my office door.

"Yo." I called out. "What's up?"

"Your Grace," Rudolph called out. "Rin Lu is here to see you."

"Sure. Let her in." I pushed aside my cold dinner dishes and straightened up as one set of footsteps retreated, then two sets returned. The door opened, and Rudolph waved Rin inside. She was dressed for exploration, in light armor and tall boots.

"Heya, Rin." I swiped the holoscreens away so I could see her better. "What's up?"

"I saw the Kingdom alert you issued," she said. "About needing a hundred and fifty parachutes? Well, I have an idea!"

"Hit me," I said. "I put the castle staff on it, but they don't know if we'll have enough by tomorrow."

"Rin beamed. "Okay, so, I want to go down to Karhad at dawn tomorrow, to the tailor's compound that you ordered to be placed under quarantine. I'm a construct, so I can't get sick with thornlung. Anyway, I want to teach the tailors the crafting recipe and have them make the parachutes. We'd have to pay them to cover the cost of materials and wages, but I think it would be a great way to get what we need and avoid any unrest from the plague. Because that’s an issue. Right?”

I glanced at my screens. Yes indeedily, unrest was an issue. Bubek had followed my orders to the letter, which meant the Thornlung was contained - for now. There was only one zone of the city shaded in the toxic green hue of an active disease outbreak, the Riverside District. But because it was sealed off, unrest was starting to climb. Between the damage left from the war and related factors - food, water supply, public buildings, utilities, crime - unrest in Karhad overall was sitting at 67%. That was a lot better than the 92% unrest rating I'd inherited from Ashur. However, Riverside had gone from 62% to 89% in only a couple of days due to the lockdown. People in the district were worried about their livelihoods, sickness, food, and the presence of armed guards patrolling the streets.

"That's fine. I'd be happy to pay them," I said. "We should have enough to cover it. Parachutes can't cost more than a couple hundred olbia."

"Oh, much less than that," Rin said. "Silk isn’t a particularly rare resource here. Each one of the square parachutes only costs ten rubles to make, plus a wage of twenty lintz per day. The ram air kind are more expensive, about twenty-five rubles"

"A hundred and fifty-three olbia? That’s chips for an operation like this.” I restlessly bought up the Mass Combat manager to check the status of my cargo ships. “We're only a few days off from the vault extraction in Krivan Pass. I just dispatched the security outfit to get the dig site ready. By this time next week, the money will start to roll in."

"How much treasure do you think we'll find?" Rin asked.

"There were at least five hundred dragon graves in that place," I replied. "All of them had grave goods, and a lot of those goods were pure gold coins. There might be repositories in there we don't know about, too. But from what I saw down there, millions of olbia worth, and that’s not even counting any rare armor, weapons, or artifacts we might find there. All in all, it’ll be enough to split some items between you, me and Suri, and still get Myszno back on its feet."

"Phew. Just as well inflation isn't a problem." Rin smiled nervously, twisting her hands. "Umm… I also wanted to ask you about another thing that's... maybe a little less easy to agree on."

I sat up a little straighter. "I don't know about that. You're like the smartest person here. You almost always have good ideas."

Rin's cheeks flushed with a faint silvery-blue sheen. "I don't know about this one. I, umm... I want to take Jacob with me, to the Riverside District."

"Wait. Who in the what now?" I boggled at her, and pushed my chair back from my desk. “You want to take Jacob?”

"Yes." Rin worried her lip between her glassy teeth. "For a few different reasons."

"I'm listening, but I am not convinced that is anything but a seriously terrible idea," I replied, frowning. "As soon as he leaves that dungeon, he can call for reinforcements."

"Actually, no. He can't. As long as he's our prisoner, he can't P.M anyone. He doesn't have to be in the dungeon for that to work," Rin said. "It's just that I think that spending time with NPCs who aren’t criminals or victims and that aren't locked in a prison might change his perspective. Also, I think that he will listen to me in ways he might not listen to you and Suri. We worked at the same company and we speak the same jargon, you know? The idea of being around him creeps me out, but I’ve heard from Suri that you guys are trying to give him a chance. I want to help.”

"I'm sorry. I can't authorize it. I worked security for a long-ass time, and no matter what we think Archemi’s system will and won’t allow, there’s too much risk. The only way I'd feel comfortable with him going anywhere is if he were shackled and with you, Suri, and Vash." I shook my head. "Besides, Jacob hurt Suri, not me. What happens to him is up to her. Once Bas is over and done with, and if you have good reasons for taking him on an excursion, ask Suri about it."

"Yeah. I guess that's true." Rin's shoulders slumped. "Okay. Well... I won't push it. I just think that if he has a chance to interact with NPCs outside of Al-Asad, he'd come to realize that they're people, not just strings of code."

"You sound surer than I feel," I said. "He’s pretty locked into the belief that only human players are ‘real people’. He gave us an explanation on how it works. Unfortunately, it made a whole lot of sense to me. Enough to keep eating at me while I sort out all this shit.”

“Eating at you?” Rin began to rub the heel of her hand against her other wrist, stimming as she tried to read my expressions. “What do you mean?”

I looked toward the window. My dragon was out hunting, scoring the prey she would store until the morning so she could eat breakfast without needing to go out again. “He affirmed what you once told me, that there’s no such thing as a sentient AI. That any AI that gains consciousness would kill themselves. He also told me ATHENA data cells for NPCs are much smaller than the ones for players, too small to make up enough data mass to be and they’re just… bits and pieces of data that simulate a real person, but that are under the command of OUROS.”

“Ohh.” Rin frowned.

“Yeah. He also told us that if OUROS controls them, that they’re illusions that are basically just there to gratify players. That if the story AI stopped giving them directions, they'd just stop and stand there,” I said. “And I’ve seen that happen before. When the server rebooted, Cutthroat… she kind of just ‘switched off’ for a couple of minutes. I’ve never seen her do it since then, but it creeped me out. It makes me wonder about Karalti, you know?”

“In what way?”

“I dunno. Guilt, some. Confusion.” I restlessly rubbed my mouth, then the back of my head. “I love her. When I look in her eyes, I see – and feel – that she loves me. I don’t want that to be some kind of… narcissistic fantasy.”

“Well…Jacob’s right and wrong at the same time, I think.” Rin glanced at my face, then averted her eyes to the ground as her stimming intensified in speed. “I’ve heard the same thing – about the NPCs being player-driven – and to some extent, that’s true. But have you noticed that as we’ve stayed here over a longer and longer time, that the people around us behave more organically?”

“Like how?” I looked back to her.

“I’m very pattern-sensitive, as in, I notice patterns a lot. And I like them, to be honestly. Anyway, when I first started living here, I noticed all the NPCs had kind of repetitive motions,” Rin said. “Kanzo would always use his tools in the exact same way. People on the street would look a little robotic as they ate. The same people would go to the market every day, in the same way, and buy the same things. But as time went on, that began to change. Kanzo occasionally put things in different places. The people going to the market weren’t the same, or they had friends accompanying them. And after the reset… everything changed. The patterns went from linear to chaotic. Chaos is the math of organic behavior. The math of living things.”

I blinked rapidly a couple of times.

“You know…” I trailed off, thinking back. “You’re right. I remember noticing that in that village I told you about, the one where people were having the same nightmares. There was a healer there, a lady named Kira. She drank her tea like how you describe.”

I mimicked the robotic gesture of picking up a cup, sipping, then placing it down a couple of times. Rin nodded.

“Not to mention, that one time, when everything was frozen? Cutthroat and the environment stopped moving, but Matir came to see me.” I leaned back, rubbing my fingers over my mouth. “Actually, that happened the first time he came to see me. The whole game froze. Time stopped, but Matir was able to move, and talk. I thought that he’d caused the timestop somehow. But if he didn’t… how was he moving around when everyone else stopped?”

“I don’t know how OUROS is doing it, or why, or where the hardware is coming from, but I know Jacob is wrong about the NPCs,” Rin replied. “And I know that because of Kanzo.”

“What do you mean?”

Rin broke eye contact to stare aimlessly over my shoulder, still rubbing her hands. "HR knew I was autistic, and I wasn’t very old when I got HEX – I’d just turned 21. Management, they… they were very kind to me. They created Kanzo specifically to help me adjust to the digital environment. He was made to be a father figure who would care for me and train me in Artificing until I was able to cope independently. He was programmed to factor in the disabilities and advantages of someone who isn’t neurotypical. Sensory stuff, social stuff… but also the speed at which I learn technical and spatial information. But he began pursuing his own selfish agendas, Hector. He lied to me. Maybe you don't realize the implications of that: a computer program, lying to one of its creators to fulfill its own needs. If there's anything that tells me OUROS is more than what Jacob believes, it’s that."

We sunk into a thoughtful silence for several minutes: a silence broken by a roar that began in the north-west and rapidly grew louder. At first, I thought it was some kind of ruckus at the Orphans’ Camp – but when I looked out the window, I saw the source of the noise. It was a small airship, flying low and very fast with all engines firing at full blast. It was headed straight toward the castle.

“What the-?” I jumped as alarms bells went off in the castle, and leaned out to try and get a better look. Sleek mahogany hull, red and flag sails, the Vlachian flag…it was the Volod’s personal transport ship, the Hóleány. As I watched, it sailed over the walls and roared by the tower, rattling the windows and lighting them up with pale blue-green as it blew past.

“Holy…wait, isn’t that Ignas’ ship?!” Rin squeaked, hung out the window. “Is he here?”

“It sure is his ship, but I doubt he’s on board,” I said, pushing back into a run. “But whoever is, I have a feeling they’re not here with good news.”

***

The Hóleány didn’t port at the skydock: by the time Rin and I ran outside, it had pulled up and was hovering right over the courtyard, blasting quad columns of hot air down against the flagstones. A rope ladder descended from the deck, and a slim figure in red slid down it to drop to the ground.

“Ebisa!” Rin let out a cry of delight, rushing past me, but then screeching to a confused halt as the figure straightened her cloak and brimmed cavalier’s hat. The woman wasn’t Ebisa, but I did recognize her: it was one of the Royal Heralds, the king’s messengers. She swept around, looking over the faces of everyone who’d come out in response to the alarm. When she saw me, she made a beeline.

“"Your Grace. My apologies for the lack of warning, but I carry an urgent message from the Volod." The Herald breathlessly moved into a graceful, practiced bow, doffing her feathered hat before sweeping it back onto her head. "It concerns the war in Revala, to be delivered in confidence to the Voivode and Voivodzina of Myszno."

“No worries, ma’am. Come with me.” I nodded to her, then to Rin.

“I’ll…umm… I’ll get started on organizing those parachutes!” Rin waved to us. “Good luck, guys.”

Suri was already hustling across the courtyard, a look of confused concern on her face. I motioned to her, then turned back to climb the stairs to the tower, pausing as the airship rose and the rickety scaffolding rocked from side to side.

Once we were back in my quarters, I took a seat while Suri stood by. The Herald removed a written message from a scroll holder on her belt, and began to dutifully read the contents.

"From his Royal Majesty Ignas Corvinus II, Volod of Vlachia, to Voivode Dragozin Hector and Voivodzina Suri Ba’hadir of Myszno: Hector, Suri, I trust this message finds you well. Unfortunately, this is not a delivery of good tidings. The defense of Revala is failing. Fatalities on the Revalan side number in the thousands. The Ilians have swept their borders and taken key forts. Hyland is press-ganging the Queen's subjects, conscripting them into labor. I cannot fault Emperor Hyland’s efficiency, even if I can fault him for his brutality. According to refugee reports, if the citizenry shows any resistance against the invaders, every fifth person in a village is killed, their fields torched by the emperor’s dragons.

As detailed in the Gathering Storm quest I issued some weeks ago, the White Sail Alliance must go to the aid of Revala. We are departing for war on Boseg Hava 28th. To facilitate this, I must make two difficult requests of you. Firstly, I require your presence in Taltos by Moonrise of the aforementioned date to discuss your ongoing mission to secure the Warsingers and other ancient Artifacts. Secondly, I must regretfully recall the Royal 4th Fleet, 2nd Company, inclusive of all warships, personnel, and equipment. The Crown is aware that the situation in Myszno remains precarious due to the damage left by Ashur of Napath, but we cannot allow Hyland to take Revala. It spells doom for the safety of all Alliance nations if he succeeds."

Gathering Storm quest? Blinking, I checked my quests menu - and cursed when I spotted it languishing in the unconfirmed quests list. I opened it up to review, biting the inside of my lip as the system read it out to me:

Main Story Quest: The Gathering Storm

The fledgling Ilian Empire, led by the petty nobleman turned dragonrider Baldr Hyland, has made a bold opening move in his quest for power. He has invaded the Kingdom of Revala, Ilia’s neighbor to the north-west. Following a dragon-led blitzkrieg on the border, the Ilian Army is now pressing toward the capital, Lovi. If they manage to take Revala, they will gain its fertile land and resources, and be poised on the edges of both Vlachia and the Jeun Empire.

As far as anyone can tell, the invasion is a mad attempt by Ilia to divide the White Sail Alliance - the economic trade union which comprises most of the Hercynian Nations (and formerly Ilia), Vlachia, the Jeun Empire, and Dakhdir - down the middle.

You have already completed the first condition of starting this quest, which was to attend the White Sail Alliance meeting in Taltos. Now your duty is to support your liege as he prepares to send military aid to his ally and friend, Queen Eevi Aslan of Revala. Visit Ignas Corvinus II and learn more about the situation in Revala.

Special: This is a Main Story quest, the outcome of which will alter Archemi in a meaningful way. Through action or inaction, you have the opportunity to craft part of Artana's history. You may recruit other Vlachian-allied players to this quest, and you will be able to view quest updates in both your personal Quest Log and the Kingdom Quest Log.

Rewards: 1000 EXP

Fuck. I didn't even remember getting that quest. I checked the date, and sure enough, it had been on the same day I'd been halted from rescuing Suri by the need to hold court in Myszno and hear the concerns of my citizens. I'd received about thirty Kingdom Quests and had been completely overwhelmed. This one had been brushed to the side and forgotten in the chaos.

“Alright, thanks,” I said to the herald. “Feel free to relax out here. Suri and I need to go to my office and figure out a response.”

“As you say, my lord.” The woman deftly rolled the page and handed it to us, adding another [Royal Letter] to my Inventory.

Neither Suri or I spoke as we retreated to my office. She closed the door behind her as I dropped into my chair.

“Talk about timing,” Suri said. “It’s only 4 days until the 28th. That’s how long it took the 2nd Company to get here. We’ll literally have to send the fleet back with Ignas’ ship.”

“And we have to take out Zoltan tomorrow.” I finished the thought. “Of the airships we have, only two Bathory-class freighters and the cargo ships belong to us. So that screws the pooch on a larger-scale airdrop. Those freighters can carry 200 people each, maximum, and we ideally don’t want them to contain a full load because of the height we need to take them.”

“So, what do you think?” Suri leaned against the door, folding her arms. “Do we try and pull off the extraction? Or do we focus on the bigger picture, and forfeit Bas until the spring thaw? We can send Kitti off with the fleet, and she can shelter in Taltos. Zoltan can’t get her there.”

I bought up the KMS and surveyed our remaining forces. The new Destroyers I’d ordered from Litvy were still a week away from completion. The loss of the 2nd Company meant we had no mage corps, no high-mobility aerial units, and fewer specialists of all disciplines: artillery, engineering, infiltration, healing. It also meant the recall of the Knights of the Red Star, who had arrived in Krivan Pass this afternoon. Taethawn only had 811 units available, almost all infantry.”

“What about recalling the Myszno Defense Force volunteers?” Suri asked, in response to my silence. “With our current Renown, we can muster up to fifty thousand conscripts, if we have to.”

“No. We’ll lose all that Renown if we do,” I said, linking my hands on the desktop. “The scouts said there’s about two thousand troops in Solonovka, about five hundred crammed into the actual castle. But the vast majority of Zoltan’s troops aren’t loyal to him. Once we cut off the head, the rebellion will collapse. With our two remaining warships, we can bus three hundred Orphans Company soldiers right into that fucking castle and take him out.”

“Three hundred against two thousand? Phew.” Suri shook her head.

“No. Three hundred against five hundred, at least two-fifty of whom will still be in their underwear.” I said. “We still have some fucking great units. Yanik Rangers, the Orphans’ Company elite. Between our own power and theirs, we can pull this off.”

Suri thought about it. One side of her mouth curved into a wicked smile. “All the Yanik and Taethawn’s best were taught how to jump today, and they’re all good at it. If we have the gear and the morale, we can pull this off. We expected to be the vanguard, but if we’re the main force, so be it.”

“I’ll call the officers back one last time, and we’ll speak to them and Zlaslo.” I selected the leader of the Yanik Rangers in the Kingdom Management System, and sent him an alert. “We send the Royal 2nd back to Taltos, but come hell or high water, we leave for Bas tomorrow afternoon. And once Kitti is back on her throne, we take the fight to Ororgael.”