Jackal Among Snakes

A giant gray-green humanoid sat in a strange octagonal stone booth in the middle of a large room with eight paths branching out. It seemed to be wearing a bag made of skin over its head, but where the bag met its neck, eight arms shot out, all identical. Its hands toyed with abacuses on the booth. It wasn’t clear what it was using the instruments to count, but it used them adeptly. Stone bead after stone bead slid up and down rods, and the thing’s head swiveled from left to right to monitor all of them.

Then, all of its hands stopped at once. It slid some of the counting instruments aside, peering into the stony darkness ahead. A figure materialized at the end of the dark-shrouded tunnel ahead, illusion magic dissipating. Argrave stood there, holding a great red bow. He released the string.

A dark maroon bolt shot across the giant room. It moved quickly enough to generate winds. With a travel time of perhaps half a second, it struck past the stone, the abacuses, and the humanoid all. It slammed the necromantic creature into the stone behind, digging about five feet deeper even after that. The source of its magic was stored in its chest—without so much as a single spasm, it collapsed, nothing more than flesh now.

Hegazar’s illusory form seemed to materialize from nothing, and he placed his hand on Argrave’s elbow. “Good shot, partner. Must have taken some archery classes—your ma must be proud.”

“Maybe,” Argrave answered, breathing a little unsteady.

The remainder of the group stepped out of the darkness, rejoining up with them. With Hegazar’s help, Argrave had easily dispatched the Cipherer, their sole obstacle to the deeper parts of the living fortress.

Everyone reached a consensus after things had calmed down after Anneliese’s ‘betrayal.’ Despite the shifting of the scales, the crux of the matter was fundamentally still one S-rank mage versus one S-rank mage. ‘Even distribution,’ both Magisters agreed—they might even keep that agreement, provided neither saw an opportunity. With that settled, things proceeded for their party to discover what, exactly, would be an even distribution.

Argrave played the role of the gambler gone bust—he disclosed what was supposedly all of his plans and knowledge to Hegazar without fuss, acting as though the man was his only lifeline. Argrave couldn’t say for sure what Anneliese was doing, but they had agreed earlier Anneliese would be trying to get as much from Vera as she could, to play her part as an ambitious and enterprising rising star. Whether or not she went with it was irrelevant—he trusted her judgement.

There wasn’t much room to maneuver with the position they’d put themselves in. They would have to earn some leeway by force of necessity. Hegazar and Vera did not offer trust—theirs was an alliance of convenience, and the Magisters viewed them only as disposable tools; Argrave and Anneliese were but gloves with which to handle the other Magister, discarded once dirtied. To get these Magisters to move like Argrave wanted, they’d have to misdirect, misinform, and misguide the two Magisters just right in this living fortress of the Order of the Rose.

Argrave had always loved these living fortresses when playing ‘Heroes of Berendar.’ The player needed three mage characters in the party to open any of them, but once within, they’d be greeted by a hall of locked-off but high-leveled loot—the heart chamber they’d seen earlier. To get at the treasure, the player didn’t have to endure a long dungeon crawl with countless enemies or solve some needlessly tedious puzzle. Argrave enjoyed those, to be sure, but they were a bit dull on subsequent playthroughs of the game. In these living fortresses, all the player had to do was fight a very fun boss.

Argrave felt no guilt completely ruining all of that ‘fun’ by masking himself with Hegazar’s high-ranking illusion magic and dispatching their foe with [Bloodfeud Bow]. He didn’t have the Blessing of Supersession even still, and he didn’t care to take risks, even if it meant showing some of his capability.

Vera stepped up to Argrave and healed his arms, cracked from the heavy use of blood magic. She looked to Hegazar. “There. You cloaked him, I healed him—all as we agreed.”

Behind, Anneliese toyed with her duster’s hood. The Starsparrow, which she’d been hiding this entire time, rushed off into the deeper part of the fortress. Argrave quickly averted his gaze back to the two Magisters. If they had seen anything suspicious, they did not show it.

riches in this little slice of flesh and stone made by the Rose?”

them or getting them,” Argrave nodded

together,

And that was precisely what

#####

of skin off the Cipherer’s head, tossing it aside like a filthy rag. There, a great lump of flesh that barely constituted a head housed several rather conspicuous fleshy bits. Argrave gave his hands a little shaking, steeling his resolve. Then, he reached down, plunging his fingers

aside. Next, he turned the head on its side, then grabbed its floppy, cartilaginous ear. It stretched uncomfortably as he tugged on it, and then popped like a cork. He screwed it in place where the nose had been. Lastly, he opened up the Cipherer’s mouth.

had something rather horrifying in his hand. He sighed, marveling at

“That’s

into the brain chamber, where we can communicate with the living

key, and he could see right past the ear into the ground beyond. Shaking his head

#####

protective enchantments seemed to make the Magisters on edge, but so long as Argrave and company were willing to press

to step forward, planting the ear key in a slot just beside the door. It took some turning, and then Argrave had to say, “The ear is one key

As Argrave twisted and pulled the ear key free, Vera and Hegazar came to his side, spell light illuminating their path. They did not proceed until Argrave did, ensuring no trap awaited them. The brain chamber was bathed in light as they stepped deeper in, illuminating its

enchantments were so thick there. There was a small stone table in the center with a few chairs near it, while a large

to say, all secure doors or vaults will shut, and all sections will be waiting for proper command. Barring this room, of course—it’d be hard to take the key out of the room if the door shut automatically. I assume it

After, the Magister ran her hands along the stony

necromantic creations truly alive, I

what we cannot touch,” Hegazar waved his hand, stepping past

the flesh, he felt like bone touched against bone and shivered. Even still, the key fit snugly. Argrave took a step backwards, but nothing seemed to change. All stood around expectantly. As Argrave turned his head back, a flash of gold passed through Argrave’s vision,

“…now what?” Hegazar pressed.

see the magic flowing out of her hand, pulled like wisps out of her body. Vera

out and cast a spell. His Brumesingers scampered out of his coat, spreading out and climbing up beneath the table. Their dark gray fur blended near perfectly with the stone, but even then, they stayed

chamber,” Hegazar said frankly. “Be it negligence or malice, you might make