Aegis Online

 

We all look at mum in shock.  Dad gives us a few moments, and then gently reminds, “Jeffrey, you’re turn. What do? You just watched the party’s Warlock collapse, blood spattering the ground, as the crazed Dwarf raises his axe again.”

Jeffrey chews his lip for a second. “Non-lethal, but a full complement. Unarmed strike, Flurry of Blows, Ki-Fuelled Attack.”

His dice clatter into the tray.

“To hit, that’s… a 25, a 23, a 20, and an 18.”

Houseworth smiles. “The first three are hits.”

 

Jeffrey tallies the damage. “That’s 18 bludgeoning damage, then.”

 

Houseworth grins. “And I’m down. K.O!”

 Dad grins. “Nesta, make me a death saving throw please.”

Mum rolls, and says, “Fail.”

 

While the others work on tying up Helm, I rush over and cast Cure Wounds at 2^nd level.

“Okay, that’s… 12 HP back to Nesta!”

Dad nods. “Nesta, you come to consciousness with the face of your party’s Cleric looming over you, radiant light shining from her hands as she heals the worst of your wounds enough for you to slowly stand. The rest of the party, you’ve restrained Helm, what do?”

Dana shrugs. “Does anyone have any way to check if his mind was attacked by those squid-faces?”

I check over my sheet, looking for anything I might have that can help. I turn to dad and ask, “Could I make an Arcana check to see if Helm’s mind is now free from outside influences?”

“You can, roll for it!”

I grab a dice and roll, calculating what I’m getting. “…. That’s a 17 in total!”

Dad flexes his fingers.

“As you focus your magically-attuned mind, you can sense an energy coming from Helm. It’s not like the energy that the Mind Flayers were using, instead… it feels far, far darker. It’s more like the essence of the magic you felt under Glenhollow, and the dragon’s lair.”

 

My eyes widen. “He’s not under a mind control effect. Helm’s been cursed!”

The rest of the party start debating on how our Fighter had been afflicted so, and I check through my list of prepared spells, jerking my head upright. “I have Detect Magic ready! Can I cast it? If everyone backs up out of range, I’ll only catch Helm in the area of effect!”

Everyone looks at me. I smile. “It’s only thirty feet, and if you really want, you can have ranged attacks ready. But I don’t feel like Helm did this out of his own volition.”

Dana reaches out and takes my hand. “I trust you. If you think you can help, I vote that you’re allowed to try. Everyone else?”

Jeffrey shrugs one shoulder, than the other. “I… Vote that… Naa’ril is allowed… to work her magic…”

Mum nods. “I agree. She’s wise in the ways of the divine. This is not my forte, after all.”

With confidence, I look up at dad.

“I’ll wait till everyone’s out of the 30-ft range of my spell, then cast Detect Magic on myself to see what’s causing this.”

Dad waits for everyone to move their miniatures, and then leads into narration.

“As your comrades draw back, leaving you, Naa’ril, standing near the bound, insensate Dwarf, your hands glowing with soft white light as you begin to channel your Detect Magic spell, a prayer to your deity filling the air with soft words, before a magic circle expands from around you, moving with you, with your body as the heart of it. From the information you can pick up, you turn your inner gaze outwards, towards the Dwarfish form, letting the circle pass over him and surround him. There’s no magic coming from him directly, but there IS a trail, almost a chain of strong dark magic binding him to the axe lying near him, which had fallen from his grasp when he was felled.”

I swear silently. “It’s the axe! It’s a cursed item!”

Dad nods. “Indeed. You can see the aura of evil surrounding it, and there’s a pressure around you, as if the axe is watching you somehow.”

I huff. “I’m going to drop my Detect Magic and start casting Remove Curse at 3^rd level.”

Dad grins. “As you switch the focus of your spellcasting, your hands start glowing brighter, a spear of light forming in the air as you raise it, driving the point of the divine spear down and striking the axe between the blades. As the spear erupts in radiant light, you can hear a fading howl of fury and frustration that peters out. The axe shudders, and falls still. Helm’s connection to the weapon has been severed.”

 

I sigh as Houseworth winks at me. Then, I check off the spell slots I’d used just now. Dad narrates, “The Dwarf lies still, unconscious, but not in danger of death. However, since you’re all officially out of combat, I’m going to give you all a long rest and a level-up!”

Everyone starts digging through the books to determine their new abilities and spells, as dad grins, waiting for us all to finish. Once things have quieted down after about twenty minutes, he claps his hands. “Well, I think that wraps up tonight’s session, and we’ll all discuss loot and things next week. Well played, everybody, I thought that was going to be a lot harder than it was. Lucky I bought a selection of wonderful things to throw at you!”

 

We all stare at him as he grins widely. Mum groans, “Thomas, you’d better not be planning giant Phase-spiders or something equally vile!”

Dad’s only response is to widen his grin, as Jeffrey grabs his jacket and checks his phone. Judging by the way his eyes light up, he must have a message from Jared. I make a mental note for Dana and I to go on another double-date with them sometime.

 

 

The next few weeks of college pass, and my T-blockers are clearly starting to work. I find myself suffering from occasional dizzy spells and frequently need the bathroom. Jeffrey’s watching out for me, as is Jared. A couple of times, they’ve even managed to stop me from planting my face into the floor, which I’m extremely grateful for.

 

Another side effect I’ve noticed, much to my delight, is that my body hair’s started to thin out and become almost barely-present. I’d never had much in the way of facial hair, and, thankfully, even the tiny stubble seems to be receding, getting less and less noticeable. It’s getting easier and easier for me to pass, and Yaya seems to be delighted in my progress. Things have been going so smoothly, especially since Daisy’s been as vigilant as an Unbound A.I with free reign of the Re-Spec systems can be. She’s been patching every single breach or security flaw she can find with almost violent efficiency, as if trying to make up for Janet Foster’s meddling.

 

Sadly, I barely get to log in to Aegis Online. Finally, I log in and start my stream, explaining my plan to head for the Darkwood Heights. “Seriously, the native Skyborn in Aerene are all a bunch of jerks! I know there’s probably a load of quests I could do, but I wanna get away from there for a while before I give someone 10,000 volts of pain! So, we’ve just arrived in the region where the Darkwood Heights are situated. Luckily, I can actually land the Devil Hunter on the ground to save on recharging the crystals all the time. We’ll be setting up a base camp, and then exploring further. The devs-notes say the area has a recommended level of 60, so make sure to grind for exp. in order to be safe.”

I read a handful of comments from my chat, Ravi, Mia and Cassie hard at work for trolls or jerks.

“Okay, so there’s apparently a Demon Lord here, too. The Demon Lord of Extinction? One quest I did a while back had an Infernal Warden who mentioned a Demon Lord, maybe they’re the same one! I’ve gotta admit, they have some pretty intense epithets. The ‘Calamity General’ and ‘The Bane of the Argonauts’ do NOT strike me as very friendly and approachable!”

I smile as Asteria leaps down from the crow’s-nest, her armour clinking as she lands on the deck a few paces away.  She waves at my streaming orb. “I’m here too! So, what’s on the agenda today, Kettrin?”

I explain about the plan to set up a camp, rather than attempt to land too close to the Darkwood Heights. The map data I’ve managed to glean from trawling the Worldwide Data Transference Network shows a thick forest for miles, with rocky hills and deep valleys.

The wildlife is way more aggressive, stuff like two-headed bears, and even a rare breed of monster, similar to Marika’s pet Steelwing Griffon, with huge claws and beaks, capable of crushing boulders to gravel in a single blow. They’re also much more muscular and front-heavy, and have no wings, instead using their powerful front limbs to leap dozens of metres at a time. They’re known as Great Diamondclaw Alke, and are basically the apex land-predator. There are Megabats the size of large dogs that drink blood, and even reports of werewolves and vampires. It’s hard to tell what’s fact and what’s fiction, especially without any clear screenshots.

 

Asteria smooches my cheek and causes a minor riot in my chat for about five minutes, and I wait for it to calm down. “Anyway, we’ll be making landfall soon, I want to make sure we can secure the area well enough that only a massive attack will cause any damage. Besides, if we REALLY need to flee, we have my airship!”

Asteria giggles. “Well, I think this is going to be quite a fun expedition!”

 

A loud cry comes from the portside.

“Ahoy, captain of the Devil Hunter! You are entering restricted airspace! State your name and intentions!”

A burly Andromal is flying alongside us, armed, but not openly hostile. Three more are close by, evidently his backup.

I wave. “I’m the captain! My name is Kettrin! And our intentions are… exploration and maybe attempting to find out more about the ‘Demon Lord of Extinction’ people have been talking about!”

 

He confers with a couple of his comrades, then nods.

“Alright, those details check out. The Devil Hunter IS registered to a Skyborne matching your name and appearance. We’ll guide you down to meet the commander. Follow us, and don’t do anything stupid!”

The three other Andromal players take up positions on our starboard, bow, and stern, and give clear, concise directions to our helmswoman, as she brings us about and down. A large clearing has been hacked into the thick, gloaming forest, and we can see stout palisades being constructed, guards patrolling, and a trio of buildings. One is an inn, large enough to handle crowds with ease. The other is a barracks, likely for the guards, and the last is a temple, with holy symbols to each of the Lords scorched into the pale wood in order to dedicate it. I nudge Asteria and point it out. “Hey, they’ve even got a temple! If we die, we’ll just pop back to life here! Saves us flying all the way back over here again!”

 She nods approvingly. “Sounds good to me. So, we’ll check in with the commander of this outpost, and then see about going exploring?”

I beam. “Yep! I can’t wait to clear the smug attitude off my wings! This place is gonna be brutal! Just straight-up ‘everything wants you dead’. No playing nice and then stabbing you in the back!”

 

Asteria laughs, “Yeah, I thought ALVAE were supposed to be the snobby ones! Too bad for the nice Skyborne who have to put up with leaders like THAT!”

 

Morrigan barrels along the deck, her wings furled, and cannons into us for a hug. “Can I come with you? Please-please-please?!”

I wince internally, checking her status, as is my privilege as Guildmaster.

Morrigan, level… 12.

 

“I’m sorry, Mor, but this place is REALLY dangerous. But, I WILL make sure you can explore the next area we visit. We need to get you trained, first. Have you given any thought to what kind of weapon you want to use?”

The young Skyborne chews her bottom lip. “I want…. A katana!”

I grin. “I know someone who could train you in the use of that exact weapon!”

Asteria and I share a grin, and, to a confused Morrigan’s quizzical eyes, we respond in unison,

“GENEVIEVE!”